Yahoo News Rylan reveals he had secret chart hit but nobody knows it was him
The star auditioned for The X Factor 12 years ago in a bid to become a pop star
Watch: Rylan has said he has a secret chart hit but no one knows it him
What did you miss?
Rylan has revealed he’s had a secret music hit that nobody knows was him.
The star got his first taste of the limelight back in 2012 when he auditioned for The X Factor in a bid to become a pop star, but has ended up being better known for presenting TV shows such as Big Brother's Bit On The Side, Strictly spin-off It Takes Two and Eurovision. However, he has now let slip that he has quietly returned to music.
Opening up on ITV’s Lorraine, Rylan said he’d recorded a hit and that people “would have heard it” – but refused to say any more.
What, how and why?
Host Ranvir Singh, who was filling in for Lorraine Kelly, was chatting to Rylan when she said she’d heard that he had returned to music. “I have yeah,” he said, teasing that although he’d been an “open book” on other subjects he was now “like the Argos catalogue, not available anymore”.
“You would have heard it,” he teased. “It did really well.”
Singh looked gobsmacked, replying: “So you've been a chart hit in the last 12 years, but nobody knows?” “Yeah… no-one knows it’s me,” Rylan replied. “And that’s how I’m going to keep it!”
“Stop it!” Singh exclaimed, asking for hints about the song. Rylan confirmed it was a dance/house track but was tight-lipped other than that. And when Singh pleaded with him to share just one word from the song, he joked: “Go away Ranvir Singh!”
“No,” he went on. “There's a ‘no’ in there.”
“I've been very lucky in my career," said the star. "I've done a hell of a lot, you know, an X Factor contestant, but yeah, I wanted to see if I could do it all over again, but do it as anonymous.
“Listen, if I said I'm bringing out an album tomorrow, people would be like, 'Oh, here we go.' And just remember me singing Gold on X Factor or something.”
How did Rylan do on The X Factor?
Rylan tried out for The X Factor 12 years ago, in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa and Rita Ora. He did fairly well with his vocals but won over the panel – and viewers – with his personality and banter.
People in the audience were in fits as he told Take That star Barlow that his pale blue blazer was “love” and promised to sing so well that the star would give it to him. He also joked that sunstroke from the audition queue caused his nerves and laughed about his tan being “fake bake”.
He ended up going through to the next round of the competition, ultimately making it to the live finals. He finished fifth in the contest, which was won by James Arthur.
Rylan told Yahoo of rocketing to fame on the show: "I don’t really remember it because it was overnight. I had no time to cope - you're in. So I remember my audition went out as I was boarding the flight to judges' houses and my phone literally blew up. It was like it broke, it was crazy. And then from that moment on, I don't really remember life before."
