Hitmaker Gary Barlow has confessed he snubbed a Take That tribute band’s request to sing with them at a wedding – because they were better than him.
The 50-year-old made the hilarious confession on his upcoming BBC special I’m With The Band and admitted that he sees cover acts who can outperform him and his bandmates Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams "all the time".
The Could It Be Magic singer said: "We went to a wedding and they said, 'Oh, we've got a Take That band'.
"I was all right with it until they started to sing - they were brilliant. I was like, 'Get these off, now'.
"They were like, 'Do you want to come up and sing?' And was I like, 'No. No way on Earth do I want to sing with you'."
Gary’s one-off, primetime special, which airs June 4 on BBC1, sees the star reimagining his lockdown Crooner Sessions with number of famous faces to perform a series of classics.
Some of the well-known names viewers should expect to see include McFly’s Tom Fletcher, Mica Paris, Anne-Marie, Craig David, James Bay and jazz singer Jamie Callum.
Elsewhere, Gary recently admitted to making 78p in royalties this year from a cameo on cop drama Heartbeat.
The crooner made a guest appearance on the police drama in 2000 as a hitchhiker who runs into difficulties.
And cringing in remembrance, he said: "Oh f***ing hell! I swear that thing will not leave me. It’s funny, when it gets repeated on something like Gold I get a cheque.
"And I got one this year for 78p, so it wasn’t even a financial decision! It was just one of the worst things I’ve ever done, it really was."
His cameo was part of Heartbeat celebrating its 150th episode and came before boyband Take That made a sensational comeback.
These days the star is firmly focused on his music and may be moving away from his pop roots - as was evident in last year's orchestral solo album release called Music Played By Humans.
But while Gary's music career continues to shine, his Heartbeat role won't be resurrected after the show was canned in 2010.
Gary Barlow: I’m With the Band airs on Friday, June 4 on BBC 1 at 22:45pm.
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