Stephen Mulhern claims that he has turned down the opportunity to step into the hosting role on The X Factor.

Stephen Mulhern

Stephen Mulhern

The 38-year-old star has revealed show boss Simon Cowell offered him the job after Dermot O'Leary stepped down from the role after 10 years last month but claims he turned it down as he thinks his pal is "too good" to replace.

Speaking at the launch of Britain's Got Talent, Stephen told BANG Showbiz: "I've said no to the 'X Factor' presenting job. You can't follow in Dermot's footsteps, he was too good, so, sad news guys, I'm out the running."

While the 'Britain's Got More Talent' presenter isn't keen on taking Dermot's job, he has no qualms about taking over from Anthony McPartlin, and jumping over from his ITV2 spin-off show to the main ITV show alongside Declan Donnelly, to become 'Steve & Dec' instead of Ant & Dec, as he's currently planning the latter's stag do.

Stephen said: "I'm in charge of Dec's stag do. I've got the t-shirts made, and we're all going to have our own nicknames written on them, but on Ant's t-shirt you can only see his ear, but it is Ant. I don't want him on the t-shirt. It's just me and Dec, it's not Ant & Dec anymore. Dec's going to have to decide [who he has as best man]. You can't have two, and if he goes with Ant I'll be devastated."

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