X Factor winner Sam Bailey says she wants to try her hand at acting after being dropped from her record deal with Simon Cowell's firm Syco.

The singer, a former prison guard from Leicester who won the show in 2013, told ITV's Lorraine show she was not surprised at the parting of the ways with Cowell.

She said: "If Syco had said 'OK we're going to renew your contract' I'd be questioning what they wanted to do with me because I don't want to do another covers album.

"I want to be recognised as an artist that' s going to write some songs".

The singer, whose latest tour finishes tonight, said: "No-one off the X Factor has done any sort of acting. I'm quite a comical person, on this tour everyone said 'my goodness you're so funny'.

"I don't mean to be, that's just naturally me."

Bailey, who said she "genuinely" believes she "should be taken seriously as an artist", said she was still in touch with her mentor on the show Sharon Osbourne.

She said: "Sharon's had my back from day one."

Bailey scored a number one with her debut single Skyscraper following her X Factor win, and topped the charts with her album The Power Of Love.