Keating defends 'nasty' Barlow

Ronan Keating has defended Gary Barlow against accusations he is too nasty on 'The X Factor'.

The Take That singer has taken over from Simon Cowell as head judge on the ITV2 pop star search show and Boyzone star Ronan thinks his pal is doing a fantastic job.

He said: "He's not nasty. He's not at all! He's just being honest.

"I think he's doing a brilliant job, I love him. He's a good friend of mine and I get [his] good sense of humour and it's very much coming across. He's a real professional and his ability is outstanding, so I'm a fan."

Ronan is a judge on the Australian version of 'The X Factor' alongside Mel B and Australian singers Natalie Bassingthwaite and Guy Sebastian, and he admitted he can't wait to start the live shows next week.

He added in interview with Magic 105.4 FM: "I'm heading back to Australia next week to start the live shows, so that will be exciting!

"Amazing talent, honestly I'm not just saying that. I mean it's ten times the show it was last year. It's already with auditions going out on TV, it's already the number one show on the ratings- so we've already got 1.9 million viewers at peak, so very exciting!"