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TWISTING THE KNIFE

The Voice UK’s Sir Tom Jones reveals his delight the last series was a ratings flop as he blasts bosses for sacking him

The Welsh legend is delighted to be back in the big red chair for the new series on ITV

SIR Tom Jones has revealed his delight that the last series of The Voice UK was a ratings flop after he was abruptly sacked from the show.

Despite being delighted to be back in the big red chair on its new home of ITV, the Welsh legend, 76, appears to be holding a grudge against the former BBC bosses.

 Sir Tom Jones admitted he was delighted the last series of The Voice was a ratings flop
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Sir Tom Jones admitted he was delighted the last series of The Voice was a ratings flopCredit: Getty Images

Tom opened up about his shock sacking at Wednesday’s launch of The Voice UK.

He said: “Whoever was responsible made a mistake.

“I knew what the public felt because of the feedback and now that I’m back I’m getting positive feedback again.

“I’m glad that the last series I wasn’t a part of the ratings went down.”

 Ratings dropped from an average of 8.5 million to 6.4 million after he was replaced by Boy George
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Ratings dropped from an average of 8.5 million to 6.4 million after he was replaced by Boy GeorgeCredit: ITV Picture Desk

Tom added: “That made me very happy.

“It’s great to be back.

“ITV are great – I had my own show on ITV in the late sixties early seventies.

“I think [the new series] looks great, sounds great and is going to be great.”

 However, he's delighted to be back with coach Will.I.Am and newbies Jennifer Hudson and Gavin Rossdale
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However, he's delighted to be back with coach Will.I.Am and newbies Jennifer Hudson and Gavin RossdaleCredit: Getty Images

During his time away from the show, ratings dropped from an average of 8.5 million to 6.4 million.

Earlier this week, Tom claimed he got treated better working as a builder than he did at the BBC.

The Welsh legend has slammed the Beeb for sacking him with just a day's notice back in 2015 - and claimed that manual labourers get treated better.

Speaking about his shock booting from The Voice, the 76-year-old fumed: "“I was p****d off. I never got to the bottom of who made the decision.

“I thought, ‘Why have they left it so late in the day?’ When we got the call, we said, ‘When did you make this decision?’ ‘Yesterday. And we’re giving it to the press tomorrow.’

“Well of course that’s a kick in the b******s. When I used to work in factories or on a building site you’d get a week’s notice at least.

“They don’t call you up the day before and say, ‘Sorry, don’t come in tomorrow.’ The decision was made earlier but they just didn’t let me know.”

The Voice launches on ITV on Saturday 7th January at 8pm. 

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