Carl Frampton turned down X-Factor offer from Simon Cowell

After 15 seasons and steadily declining ratings, The X-Factor has gone for something different this year.

The British talent show has opted for a ‘celebrity’ version which kicked off last night with such luminaries as Ricki Lake and a seemingly neverending supply of social media stars and reality TV personalities.

You may ask why this is in any way relevant to Irish boxing but the pages of this website were very close to becoming like that of Hello magazine before two-weight world champion Carl Frampton elected against participating on the ITV show.

The Belfast featherweight has revealed that he auditioned and was accepted onto the flagship ITV show.

Frampton revealed the hard-to-believe news on this week’s episode of his TKO Podcast with joe.co.uk.

However, after submitting an audition and apparently even secretly heading to Los Angeles for an in-person performance, Frampton twice turned down the advances of Simon Cowell.

I heard it through the grapevine #TKO pic.twitter.com/AKKzYm67Fr

— Carl Frampton MBE (@RealCFrampton) October 11, 2019

As his followers on social media will know, Frampton regularly belts out a tune and could have been doing so to an even wider audience if it were not for the small matter of his ongoing boxing career.

WATCH: Carl Frampton sings Don’t Want To Miss a Thing

WATCH: Carl Frampton sings Viva Las Vegas

WATCH: Carl Frampton sings The Green Fields Of France

WATCH: Carl Frampton sings Bring It On Home

Focused on fighting, Frampton looks set to finally return to the ring on Saturday November 30th in Las Vegas versus a soon-to-be-confirmed opponent.

Celebrity X-Factor continues, Frampton-less, Saturday nights throughout the rest of 2019.