Apparently, one of last year’s X Factor hopefuls – who was eliminated because he was deemed to be too young at 15 years old – Mali Michael McCalla, has refused a personal request from Simon to try out for the show again this year.

However, The Sun today has revealed that Mali is “On the brink of a £1million boyband deal” and according to a friend of his, Mali “doesn’t want to be associated with reality shows any more.” The new band is called NSA and they’re being backed by US producers.

Mali was a big hit with the judges last year but given he was only 15, they eventually decided that the pressures of the show may prove too much for him but they’d hoped he’d be back this year.

However, at one round of auditions, Mali was there but only to support his dad Noel who was trying out for the Over 25s category. It seems that Simon himself approached Mali after many attempts to woo him back had failed, but the youngster stood firm and rejected Simon’s pleas to return.

Here he is in action at last year’s show…