Rhydian hits out at Minogue critics

Rhydian Roberts has claimed that Dannii Minogue is being treated unfairly in the press this year.

The former X Factor runner-up spoke out in defence of Minogue following recent criticism of her mentoring skills and use of plastic surgery.

"I think people lay into Dannii too much," Roberts admitted. "She's got quite a lot of depth, she's very intelligent and I think she's pretty damn hot."

Asked about new judge Cheryl Cole, he replied: "I don't know Cheryl so well, so I can't really say. I'd be happy if either of them asked me out on a date. Everybody's talking about Cheryl, but remember that Dannii is older than Cheryl, so I think Dannii looks pretty damn good."

Roberts also revealed that he remains in regular contact with Minogue, who was his mentor on the ITV1 talent series in 2007.

"Me and Dannii text each other once a week," he explained. "It's mostly flirting. There's always a little bit of that going on between Dannii and myself."