Walsh admits being wrong about Dannii

Louis Walsh has praised his X Factor co-star Dannii Minogue for her success on this year's series.

Walsh admitted that new judge Dannii, who has two acts in the final, had been the biggest surprise of this year's series.

"I didn't think it was a great idea to hire her at the start," Louis told The Mirror. "I thought, 'Why her?'

"But Dannii has worked really, really hard and given 100 per cent. She worked so hard with her acts and picked three great kids which I don't think any of us would have chosen. For me she was the surprise of the show."

In a newspaper interview last weekend, Dannii claimed that the treatment she was receiving from Walsh and Sharon Osbourne had "almost become bullying", but Louis has insisted that he and Sharon gave her an easy ride.

"It was Dannii's first year so we were nice and didn't gang up on her," he explained.

However, he stood by his decision to mock Dannii's pop career on the live show two weeks ago: "She was slagging off Niki for singing out of tune, so I turned round and said to her: 'How would you know? You have never had a hit.' She was not a happy bunny but she knew I was right."