http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/may/29/cheryl-cole-bbc-x-factor-sacking

Cheryl Cole ponders switch to BBC after X Factor sacking

Former X Factor judge is offered role in rival BBC show The Voice as debate rages in US about whether she was brought down by foul play

Things move quickly in Cheryl Cole's world: no sooner had she been unceremoniously fired from the American version of The X Factor last week than she had flown back to Britain, checked into a Berkshire hotel and begun pondering her next career move.

In America, however, the television pundits were still wrestling with the reasons for the Geordie singer's "failure to launch". How, in a royal wedding year when the United States was supposed to have been swooning over all things English, was one of the old country's superstars deemed not good enough for primetime?

Because for many observers, Cole – who made her first bouffant-haired appearance as a judge on the US show before the paparazzi just three weeks ago – was simply not up to scratch. And it was not, they said, just because of her north-east accent, which some claimed to be impossible for many viewers to understand.

"With enough production magic, you can go the Lily Allen route and 'Geordie' your way to indie supremacy," wrote Village Voice columnist Rohin Guha. Two productions featuring accents similar to Cole's – Billy Elliot the Musical and Lee Hall's play, the Pitmen Painters – have recently done well in New York and proved that pronunciation is not necessarily a barrier to success.

Guha compared Cole's quick flop to Eliza Doolittle failing her "rain in Spain moment" in a way that he said could prove terminal for her career in America. "She took herself too seriously from the start," he added. "By forgoing the kitsch of her Girls Aloud days, she walked away from one of the few roads female British pop acts have into the American industry."

Other commentators refused to rule out foul play. The news of Cole's dismissal from American X Factor leaked just as a rival talent show and music impresario Simon Cowell's previous brainchild, American Idol, was approaching its finale and ratings peak. "It was extraordinary timing that the story of Cheryl Cole being fired blew up just as the American Idol season was peaking with the finale – though if anything Idol ratings were higher than expected," said Kelly Lynch, an editor at Hollywood-based television and celebrity news website Socialite Life.

She added that the firing of Cole reflected badly on the Rupert Murdoch-owned television channel Fox, and left Cowell looking foolish. "Simon Cowell is a wiseass and is putting all his effort into leaving American Idol in the dust. The X Factor is going to be a monster, so I'm surprised by this messy episode," she said. "He was drumming up publicity for her [Cole] for the last six months and I thought it would work, that he was bringing us a little bit of his Britain – especially as we're all anglophiles this summer after the royal wedding. So to have Cole fired so abruptly I think has got to have been a business decision by Fox executives," said Lynch.

Others cautioned that it was possible that there was no skulduggery, and that Fox had intended to announce Cole's firing last Thursday, after the Idol finale. Instead, the news was leaked to popular gossip website TMZ the day before. Fox will be airing both American Idol and The X Factor.

Ratings for American Idol have dropped in the last few years, but the show remains the highest-rated TV series in the United States, and it has held that title since 2004-05. The online betting site Bookmaker has now given Idol a 90.9% chance of being the top-rated show next season in America, while The X Factor has only been given a 28.6% chance of being top in what will be its debut season.

Cole's place on the judging panel of the US X Factor is now expected to be taken by former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger.

Cole, meanwhile, has reportedly already entered the next stage of her career, becoming a glamorous pawn in a ratings war between BBC1 and ITV.

This weekend the 27-year-old singing star and talent show panellist was reportedly choosing between high-profile roles on Saturday night television shows for BBC1 or ITV1, although probably for a reduced fee. Insiders at her record company, Universal, have indicated they would prefer her to consider working on a new talent show in development for the BBC rather than returning to her judge's chair on the British version of The X Factor.

The new show, called The Voice, is already a success in the US and has business connections with Universal, where UK boss David Joseph, who also runs the Brit Awards, is said to be hoping to steer her away from ITV and from Cowell.

An employee of the record company reportedly confirmed yesterday that, "Universal are heavily involved in recruiting judges for The Voice when it moves to the BBC and they are urging Cheryl to be the big star of that show," adding that the move would be "a great way of sticking two fingers up at Simon Cowell".

On The Voice, the panel hears the auditions "blind" and rates the talent purely on their singing voices.

Edited May 29, 201114 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Without Simon manipulating the press for her at every turn she's probably going to have a very rough ride.

I agree, the press has never liked her, and many just see her as a plastic barbie doll with no actual talent to judge signing. It surprised many when Simon picked her for the UK X-Factor in the first place.

She's lucky that Ashley Cole cheating on her caused some sympathy for her, but other than that, I don't many who actually like her.

The British press is apparently giving X-Factor hell for firing Cole.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/foxs-mike-darnell-fiendish-munchkin/

Cheryl Cole drama continues.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/06/cheryl-cole-billed-as-x-factor-guest-judge-fighting-for-paycheck.html

Looks like Cheryl might return to the judging panel.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/3618958/Cheryl-Cole-to-return-to-US-again.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=HomePage

If so, this sounds like a desperate publicity ploy on Fox, Simon, and Cheryl's side to get some attention and controversy before the show even hits the air.

Edited June 6, 201114 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Looks like Cheryl might return to the judging panel.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/3618958/Cheryl-Cole-to-return-to-US-again.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=HomePage

If so, this sounds like a desperate publicity ploy on Fox, Simon, and Cheryl's side to get some attention and controversy before the show even hits the air.

what a hot mess.

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No matter how this ends it's really been amateurish and pathetic. Between this and the bungling at Britain's Got Talent I'm not sure what's going on with Simon's PR lately.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/x-factor-source-says-cheryl-195023

It's now official. Here's the press release.

FOX, FREMANTLEMEDIA NORTH AMERICA AND SYCO TV today confirm Nicole Scherzinger will be replacing Cheryl Cole on the judging panel of THE X FACTOR. Nicole will join Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid and Paula Abdul on their search across America to find the next global superstar or group to win the life-changing $5 million dollar recording deal. Nicole has previously joined Simon Cowell as a guest judge on The X Factor for the UK version of the show in 2010. Steve Jones will act as sole host of THE X FACTOR.

This whole thing about not having chemistry with Paula is rubbish. Who cares about that!? Nobody talks about Cheryl's interactions with Danni or Louis on the UK Factor - it was her chemistry with Cowell that mattered. Whatever, I hope something good comes out of this for Cheryl. I hate the way she was treated. And damn you Simon for not standing by your friend. You shouldn't have gotten her (and her fans') hopes up

It's now official. Here's the press release.

This whole thing about not having chemistry with Paula is rubbish. Who cares about that!? Nobody talks about Cheryl's interactions with Danni or Louis on the UK Factor - it was her chemistry with Cowell that mattered. Whatever, I hope something good comes out of this for Cheryl. I hate the way she was treated. And damn you Simon for not standing by your friend. You shouldn't have gotten her (and her fans') hopes up

Cheryl and Simon became very cliqueish and overbearing on X Factor, and that does affect his banter type of chemistry with Paula, which is something people here generally enjoyed.

They should have never asked her to be a judge. She should have been eased in. To anoint her that way only to cause huge media headaches was bizarre.

I hated Nicole on DWTS so I don't know how she will be here. I think this is going to flop - there are too many singing shows on already.

Is this the host of the show?

Yes.

There are one or two clips of him on Youtube that probably can't be posted here, but I do like this one:

Edited June 7, 201114 yr by CarlD2

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Edited July 13, 201114 yr by Jonathan

That's a great promo, and is a nice dig at the useless hosts on Idol.

I love Simon's car there, and Paula looks great walking away from the plane.