Olly Murs delivered a touching tribute to his late friend Caroline Flack by dedicated a song to her as The Voice UK's new series continued on Saturday night.
While most of Saturday's planned programming on ITV had been pulled as the channel dedicated more airtime to the death of The Queen and succession to the throne of her son, now King Charles III, a number of primetime shows did go out as planned, although all of them began with a reminder to viewers that they were recorded before Her Majesty's passing.
After the latest episodes of Ninja Warrior UK and The Masked Dancer both aired, The Voice followed suit, with the absence of any adverts. And, a week after Olly's co-star Sir Tom Jones moved fellow coach Anne-Marie and many viewers at home to tears with an emotional tribute to his late wife, Olly honoured Love Island host Caroline, who took her own life in February 2020.
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Olly and Caroline presented The X Factor together in 2015, having previously fronted spin-off show The Xtra Factor as a double act. He was left heartbroken by her death and has since paid numerous tributes online in memory of her.
On Saturday night, the latest round of Blind Auditions were briefly put on pause as Olly was encouraged to sing a song, with the Dance With Me Tonight singer telling his colleagues and studio audience that he was "going to pick a classic," song, before revealing the track in question to be adopted England football anthem Sweet Caroline.
He joked: "It's not one of my ones, obviously they're classics right? I'm going to sing this song, I want to dedicate to having you lot back. Also, I want to dedicate to my friend Caroline Flack," prompting cheers from the crowd.
Many of the audience were swiftly on their feet as Olly finished the song, rewarded him with applause and more cheers.
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