Why 'X Factor's' Dalton Harris can't count his millions just yet

X Factor winner Dalton Harris may have triumphed in two music contests, but reports suggest he’s far from cashing in on millions of pounds just yet.

Much was made of Jamaican singer Harris having already won a competition called Digicel Rising Stars in his home country eight years ago, but he has clarified that the million-dollar jackpot was not as much as you might think.

In an interview on Lorraine, she explained that one million Jamaican dollars is actually only worth around £6,000, while a report in The Sun suggests that this year’s X Factor prize was nowhere near the value of the £1 million record deal advertised in earlier series.

Talking about his choice to go back to a music contest after releasing three albums in Jamaica, Harris told Lorraine: “I needed to go to school and I needed to be able to take care of myself because I was a homeless kid.

“So go to school, feed myself…I knew I wanted to be an artist and I knew I had to go to a big platform.”

Harris has spoken about his tough early life struggling through poverty and added that his experiences affected the way he approached his career.

“Absolutely,” he said. “It lets me know that there’s no room for error.”

The ITV show winner also explained how his X Factor mentor Louis Tomlinson had helped him to overcome feelings of inadequacy next to some of the contest’s bigger personalities.

He said: “Louis is the one who over the course of my journey told me to be myself. People would say ‘oh, you’re not that confident, you’re laid back’.

“It started to make me think, ‘why am I here? I’m quiet, am I not TV enough? What is it, am I not bubbly enough?’

“But I found my artistry with him, and he’s a really, really good friend.”

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