Overlook the wrinkles and beer guts, nineties boyband East 17 are back – and have a new member….

Unlike the mature boyband Take That, whose comeback saw them gather all old members, even Robbie Williams, East 17 are joined by an X Factor runner up.

In a desperate bid to get their flailing music careers back into the big time, the grown up boys of East 17 have recruited a slighty familiar X Factor face.

No, unfortunately it is not Joe Mcelderry but Blair Dreelan!

You know, the memorable geeza Simon Cowell axed in 2005…

Hoping the old X Factor star can reignite their fire, East 17 have got him on board to replace their original lead singer Brian Harvey.

While Take That were catapulted back into the lime light after many years off, with their first single rocketing to number one in UK charts, we are still yet to hear a peep out of the East 17 boys, who are famed for their singles ‘Stay Another day’ and ‘If You Ever’ duet with Gabriel.

They have already kicked off their tour, perhaps that’s just their warm up before chart domination?

Blair, 32, made it to the judges houses in The X Factor with his group Ba5e.

In a recent interview the excited singer said: “I entered the show the year Shayne Ward won. We made it to Simon Cowell’s house, but one of the boys forgot his words during the performance. Simon went: ‘No, no.no, what are you doing?’ and sent us home.”

Blair insisted he has no regrets however, and is thrilled to be singing alongside Tony Mortimer, 40, John Hendy, 40, and Terry Coldwell, 37.

He added: “East 17 was the cool band at school. You wouldn’t get into a fight if you listened to them. You might if you listened to Take That though.” OUCH!