Gary Barlow to leave The X Factor

Gary Barlow will be leaving The X Factor according to shows host, Dermot O’Leary.

According to PA, the presenter said that the 42-year-old Take That star will “be leaving at the end of this year”.

Speaking about the upcoming series at 1D’s This Is Us premiere, O’Leary said: “If Simon comes back, the dynamic would be very different. Gary wouldn’t be there – he’ll be leaving at the end of this year.

“Simon is a great judge so we’d welcome him back, but Gary’s been such a great head judge as well.”

Asked if he would like to turn judge himself, O’Leary said: “Oh yeah man. I’d love to judge. I’d be so strict – I’d be nice and strict. I’d be so hardcore. I’d say it how it is.”

Fellow judge Louis Walsh has revealed he will be leaving the show at the end of the 2013 series.