Gary Barlow has claimed he will quit The X-Factor if Geri Halliwell ever returns to the show as a judge.

The Take That star told The Sun that he found the Spice Girl difficult to deal with when she stood in on the panel at the Liverpool auditions and when asked if he thought she’d be back, he replied:

“I doubt it. And if she is, I may be going.

“She’s crackers. How you see her on TV is exactly how she is in real life. The crowd really didn’t like her. She got booed all day long. She was a bit over-excited.

“She’d been told she was auditioning for the role and, bless her, I think she tried a bit too hard. I do love her for being her though, we had fun backstage. She’s sweet but mad.”

However, the 41-year-old, who recently confirmed that Cheryl Cole joined him for this year’s Judges’ House stage, had kinder words for Geri’s bandmate, Mel B.

“Mel was brilliant. It actually gave me a bit of a holiday the day she was there.

“I’m normally the one who delivers the bad news but she was doing it all so I could just sit there, going, ‘Oh, that’s awful, what she said’ but secretly loving it.”