When Simon Cowell offered her the lucrative role, Caroline, 35, was tempted to turn him down – until Dermot himself persuaded her to take it.
Appearing on Celebrity Juice, Caroline said: “[Dermot] told me to take the job. I didn’t know whether to take the job or not and so he was the one who convinced me to take the job.
“He said, ‘This is your job, you’ve got to take it’, and I felt weird about it.
“It wasn’t a money thing, we hadn’t even talked about money. It was a job offer.”
Caroline also revealed what kind of boss 56-year-old Simon is – admitting he’s a bit of a prankster.
She said: “There was one time when I was late for work. I didn’t mean to be late. And he called me over and said, ‘Um, were you on time today?’
“I was so frightened and then he went, ‘Don’t worry, I invented the word late’.”