Flash Entertainment

Matt Cardle's ex-girlfriend has insisted that the X Factor finalist is too focused on winning the show to have started a relationship with the programme's stylist Grace Woodward.

Cardle has been romantically linked to Woodward and it was recently claimed that the pair had split after his allegedly flirtatious behaviour with a number of backing dancers.

However, Cardle's ex-girlfriend Lauren Cutmore denied that the pair had ever been together and told Heat: "He's so focused on the show right now, the last thing he's got time for is a relationship with some stylist.

"I can't see him settling down for a while. I can see him going off and having a career spanning 10 or 15 years before he actually holds down a relationship."

Of their former relationship, 24-year-old Cutmore added: "He used to sing me songs all the time, it was lovely. He wrote me this song for Christmas and it was just so beautiful. It was a bit cringey, though, when he'd sing it in public.

"We'd have [Inspector] Morse evenings where we'd just sit and watch it for, like, six hours. We'd get a load of sweets from the local shop and just watch episode after episode."

Of Cardle's appearance on The X Factor, Cutmore said: "I hate his new look. I'm surprised, as he was never like that before. He used to tell me off just for ironing his shirts.

"I would buy him fashionable clothes and he'd just take them back and swap them for the same checked shirt every time. [Now] he's loving having the spray tans; he's loving having his eye lashes tinted; he's loving the clothes."