There has been a lot of speculation as to who would join Simon Cowell at the judges table for the US version of UK’s big talent hit, X Factor. Many names in the running had included Rihanna and Mariah Carey but nothing had been officially revealed until now.

Simon Cowell has gone on the record to say that Cheryl Cole and Paula Abdul will join him and the already announced Antonio “L.A.” Reid to judge the series coming to FOX soon. Cheryl has been a judge on the UK version of the show and Paula is sure to bring her American Idol knowledge to the new show.

According to reports, both deals for Paula and Cheryl have not yet been completed but with the word coming from the horses mouth as we say, I’m sure there will be no wavering away from these facts unless one of the two ladies decides to pull out last minute. Simon Cowell has released a full statement about his decision to chose these two lovelies.

“First of all, it’s like casting a dinner party. You’ve got to have people on the panel you get on well with. I never think about it as an American or British audience. I genuinely don’t. I think that’s what’s happened on a lot of these shows now is it’s almost like you’ve got to hire well known celebrities to be a judge. And with Cheryl, when I hired her initially, I’d only met her literally once when I offered her the job on [British] X Factor. I thought she was bright, cute, knew what she was talking about, ambitious. And you meet someone special a few times in your life.. And this girl is special. She’s just got a great ability to communicate. Shes a great judge. She’s smart. It’s just a hunch. If people take to her like the British public did, I think she’s going to do really well in America. And Fox was desperate to hire her. Mike Darnell and Peter Rice will tell you they wanted her all the time, I showed a tape to Mike Darnell two years ago of a clip I’d shot in England of Cheryl and he said there and then, ‘I’d hire her now for Idol.’ They absolutely fell in love with her. In a way, the deal, it was almost conditional on Cheryl having the gig. They were desperate for her. I’ve always wanted Paula. Always been very vocal about that. I missed her the second she left the show. Always loved working with her even though she can be a pain. And I’ve been consistent about this. I don’t know what it is about her, but I’ve always clicked with her. You just have to get that chemistry, and she’s right. I’ve never found anyone better than her. I think there’s a good chance it will be her. We’ve agreed that we would meet as many people as possible, and now we’re reaching the deadline we’ve got to make the decision soon. But I think she’s got a really good shot.”

Simon also had a list of musical celebs to chose from if Cheryl and Paula did not work out in his favor. The list included P. Diddy, Snoop Dogg and Gloria Estefan. Cee Lo Green and J Lo also were on the list but are obviously tied up with other singing competition commitments. Are you looking forward to X Factor US?

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