It's the End of an Era: Louis Walsh is Officially Gone from the X Factor

No Dermot, now no Louis...we don't think we'll be staying in on Saturdays anymore. 

Louis Walsh has confirmed his departure from The X Factor today and insisted it was fully his own decision and he wasn't unceremoniously canned. Walsh is the third familiar face confirmed to not be returning to the show this year, following on from Dermot O'Leary and Sarah-Jane Crawford both exiting this year.

Speaking to the Press Association, Walsh said: "The truth is I've done it for 11 years; I never thought I would even be on TV for four or five. To get 10 was great, to get 11 was amazing - I'm not hanging around for them this year. I haven't been sacked. I can honestly tell you that. But I'm not hanging around for them this year because I want to go back to being a manager… But I wasn't sacked, I haven't been hired and I'm not hanging around."

As for his replacement, Walsh thinks that Robbie Williams or One Direction's Niall Horan would make perfect judges, saying "If I was to pick the perfect person it would be Robbie Williams, or maybe even Niall Horan from One Direction, put somebody else Irish in there."

You can take the man out of the X Factor, but you can't take the bias for having someone Irish involved out of the man.

So who will join Simon and Cheryl? We'd still love to see Dannii Minogue retake her seat, and the Louis Tomlinson rumours have been flying around for a while now but honestly, who knows what goes on in Cowell's mind. We wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with Sinitta on the panel, which would be ridiculous but then, what is The X Factor without some ridiculousness?

Via Evening Standard