Holly Willoughby: BGT vs The Voice

Holly Willoughby says she’s standing by The Voice despite the Beeb show receiving a drubbing in a ratings battle with ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

‘Willoughboobie’, who has been showing off her cleavage as host in a bid to ignite interest in the singing contest, remained buoyant despite Saturday’s show shedding 600,000 viewers and trailing Simon Cowell’s show by 3.5million.

‘I love it as a show regardless of the ratings,’ the 32-year-old blonde told Metro as she took to the Bafta TV Awards red carpet in London. ‘Whether they’re brilliant or not so brilliant – it’s all the same to me I just love doing the show.’

Insisting the TV drama on her show was fierce, she said: ‘The coaches all want to win this year. Tom wants to keep his crown and the others want to get a win. They are competitive, they want to win.’

Holly insists she can still smile after BGT’s comic impressionist, Francine Lewis, took the mickey out of her.

‘She came on This Morning,’ said Holly. ‘Isn’t it the biggest form of flattery when someone imitates you?’

Meanwhile, Hols says she is going to miss her buxom rival Kelly Brook, 33, on Celebrity Juice when Fearne Cotton returns from maternity leave.

‘Kelly has been brilliant,’ said Holly. ‘It would be difficult for anyone to come in and fill Fern’s shoes but Kelly and Leigh (Keith Lemon) have a really good relationship anyway. She’s a good fun girl when she walks in, she just wants to have a good time and that’s nice to be around, so that’s wonderful.’

‘Am I going to be sad when she’s gone? Of course I am! I’m gonna miss her but she’ll be back. Keith will make sure she’s back even if just so he can flirt with her.’

[Originally published Metro Guilty Pleasures 13 April 2013]