Olly Murs has revealed that Simon Cowell wants him to ditch his international pop career in favour of returning to The Xtra Factor.

The 27-year-old was hoping to reprise his hosting role on the ITV2 X-Factor spin-off later this year, but with the international launch of his new album possibly clashing with the early audition stages, Murs told the Daily Mirror he must now choose between the two:

"I really want to do it but when I asked Simon if I could just do the live shows, he said, 'No, it wouldn't be possible'."

His co-host, Caroline Flack, admitted that she can’t imagine doing the show without him: "They asked me if I'd consider presenting with someone else. But... that'd feel just weird – I love Olly!"

The 2009 X-Factor runner-up, who performed alongside Rizzle Kicks at Tuesday’s BRIT Awards, yesterday released the video for ‘Oh My Goodness,’ the third single from his chart-topping second album, ‘In Case You Didn’t Know.’