Despite Simon Cowell's best efforts to psych her out, Nicole Scherzinger isn't worried about losing her X Factor judging job.
Fans of the ITV series will see Cowell's Britain's Got Talent co-worker Alesha Dixon briefly replace Scherzy during the Manchester audition round this year, but only because Nicole had a prior commitment.
In chatting about the judging panel switch-up, Cowell teased that introducing a new face to the line-up — even temporarily — motivates the others to stay at the top of their game.
"That's a good thing," he joked. "The great thing about Nicole is you throw out the bait and she takes it every time! Nicole's been good this year.
"She came over to my house in LA when we were talking about her coming back and I said apart from being great on TV, what she did with James Arthur was amazing. So, as crazy as she is, when she's on it and likes someone, she's brilliant."
For her part, Nicole doesn't exactly seem very concerned about the possibility of being bounced from The X Factor in favour of Alesha Dixon anytime soon.
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"Alesha's my friend, so I dig her. There was one of the auditions that Mrs O couldn't make so Alesha stood in for her too," Scherzy explained. "Me and Alesha were having so much fun, I don't think Simon liked that because he couldn't control us.
"Together we are trouble! Together we are double trouble, we have too much fun together. Simon tries to wind me up about everything."
Unfortunately for Simon, his tongue-in-cheek threats won't ever come to pass because Alesha has told Digital Spy in the past that she isn't interested in leaving BGT for The X Factor.
The X Factor returns this Saturday (September 2) and Sunday (September 3), both nights at 8pm on ITV. Watch a teaser below:
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
