The girls are looking for the next big thing (Picture: Little Mix)

Fans are eagerly awaiting Little Mix’s upcoming talent show as the girls look to discover the next big band – and they’ve let us know exactly what we can expect and what they’re looking for.

Little Mix: The Search will begin in January, but auditions are already underway in front of producers as hopefuls get whittled down to the final cohort that will get the chance to impress Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

The girls told Metro.co.uk we can expect a much more ‘authentic’ talent show than any we’ve seen before, as they take a new band under their Swarovski crystal encrusted wing.

Perrie explained: ‘We start filming the audition process in January, it’s going to be fun because it’s something different for us.

‘We’ve never done that before and obviously we’ve been on the other end of it and now being able to mentor people and find the next big thing, it’s just going to be crazy.

‘And then the winner gets to support us on the tour which will throw them in the deep end, like Hyde Park, 65,000 people, having a lorra laughs.

‘But I just think that’s sick because it’s an experience that they’re going to have forever and it’s going to be wicked, but crushing people’s dreams isn’t going to be that much fun!’

The winner of the show will get to support Little Mix on tour (Picture: BACKGRID)

Jesy admitted she won’t be giving anyone the pity vote: ‘It’s going to be really hard, but at the same time if I don’t think someone’s good I’m not just going to be like “Oh alright, I’ll let you in”, do you know what I mean? We want to find the best band.’

While it may be easy to whittle out the bands that don’t impress, Leigh-Anne revealed that choosing between two acts she loves is going to be tough: ‘What’s going to be hard is choosing between two amazing bands, and having to send someone home knowing that they’ve got potential, that’s going to be really hard.

‘I swear, if an act that I love goes… how do you hide that? I might storm off!’

While it may be easy to draw comparisons to other TV talent shows, the girls want theirs to stand out against the crowd by making sure the talent shines through rather than gimmicks.

Jade explained: ‘I think what’s really important for us with our show is making it very authentic and not staged.

‘We’re really going to be there for the contestants, before and after the show. And I think it’s going to be different vibe, they’re going to be put in a house and I think there’s going to be elements of all the shows over the years that have done well, which we’ll take a little piece of and create our own version of that.

‘Because we don’t want to copy anybody else, we want to create a brand new show that people are going to want to watch because it’s different to what they’re used to.’

Leigh added: ‘Also, no gimmicks, just good talent. We want to find the best.’

The girls also know what they’re looking for from potential contestants, with Jesy admitting: ‘We want real and raw, like no fake stuff going on.

Little Mix will use their own experience of being on a talent show to help nurture an up and coming band (Picture: Neil Mockford/GC Images)

‘Individually we’ve all got things we’re looking for, I know that me and Leigh really would love to find an all-boy R&B band, like soulful and take it back to the 90s when boybands used to be around.’

Leigh added: ‘We want a Boyz II Men that can move!’

Perrie, however, is looking for something totally different: ‘I want to find a mixed group, taking it back to N-Dubz, Black Eyed Peas, that kind of vibe.

‘It’s just finding the dynamic between the contestants. When they’re auditioning, we’re gonna have to put them in groups and see how they vibe with one another because you can’t just make a group happen. It doesn’t work like that. We got lucky.

‘We want to find everything and then obviously see what works. But yeah, they might clash. They might not work, they might click instantly. So it’s just all those factors.’

Jesy added: ‘You can come as a ready-made group but if there’s certain people that we don’t like in the group, we can take them out. It is going to be proper ruthless, it really is.’

The band have carved out a stellar career since winning the X Factor (Picture: Getty)

The experience of going through the audition process may be tough, but it will help the wannabe bands develop a thick skin – something the girls think is essential in the music industry.

Jade told us: ‘I guess we went through that, didn’t we? There is an element of like, if you’re going to do this you have to be ready for it. We went through a lot to get to where we are.’

Perrie added: ‘I mean, it ruins you at first and you feel like it’s the end of the world, but then you get strong!’

Leigh-Anne warned there would be tears as well as triumphs, adding: ‘I’m just going to apologise now for the rollercoaster of emotions you’re going to experience if you do come on the show.’

Imagine getting to tour with actual Little Mix though?! (Picture: Instagram)

As well as coaching the bands throughout the series, the girls are also going to mentor their careers and help them through the life-changing events after the show too.

Jade explained: ‘We know what we needed back then, and we can give that to those people now,’ while Jesy added: ‘Yeah, because we know what to expect, we’ve lived it. On an emotional level, we get it.’

Little Mix recently revealed their Christmas single, One I’ve Been Missing, and Little Mix: The Search will premiere in January on BBC One.

MORE: Little Mix insist they ‘couldn’t go on’ if one band member left

MORE: Perrie Edwards denies Little Mix rift rumours: ‘People assume girls don’t get along with girls’