Gary Barlow has issued a warning to his pal and former Take That bandmate Robbie Williams ahead of the new series of The X Factor.
It’s been rumoured that Robbie, 44, will join Simon Cowell, his wife Ayda Field and singer Louis Tomlinson to make up this year’s judging panel.
Gary – who was head judge on the show from 2011 to 2013 – has told Robbie he could be in for a shock because being a judge is “tiring”.
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Gary, 47, told The Sun being an X Factor judge is a “great” experience but said: “I know what it does to you. He’s got some hard work ahead, that’s for sure. I’ve told him it’s a lot of hours — more than people realise. It’s tiring.”
He told Robbie that being a judge on the show isn’t all glitz and glamour.
The Take That singer added: “They film you for eight hours until you’ve had enough and then you say something bad — and that’s what they use when it goes out.”
Robbie’s other former bandmate Howard Donald also spoke about Gary being on the show.
He said he thinks Robbie and wife Ayda will “be at each other’s throats”.
Robbie’s not confirmed he or Ayda will be judges but he did address the speculation during a recent interview on ITV’s This Morning.
He told hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: “I understand if people read the reports and they would think I am doing the X Factor, or my wife is doing the X Factor.
“But people say that every year, and we always say no comment.”
He continued: “If there is an X Factor in my future, whether it be this year or next year or never, I’m scared for my own safety and health. Not because of the public… [but] my wife. She is an A+ student from Beverly Hills, incredibly square, she is like ‘why would you do that?’”
Addressing the reports that he and Ayda are becoming judges, Robbie added: “She is supposed to be doing it with me. I have read those reports too.
“There is a lot of me that would love to do it. But as it happens, people are talking, nothing has been signed. But watch this space.”
The judging panel has had a huge shake-up this year after Louis Walsh announced he had quit the show last month.
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Louis, 65, appeared on all but one of the talent show’s series since it began in 2004.
It was also announced that singer Nicole Scherzinger won’t be returning as a judge.
It’s been rumoured Sharon Osbourne will have a scaled-back role on the show when it returns instead of being a judge.