An ex Factor judge? That’s not what my contract says: Louis
‘It would cost €1m to buy him out’
LOUIS Walsh will start work in May on the new season of The X Factor – despite rumours he was set for the axe. It was reported yesterday that the music manager and talent show judge was set to be fired from the panel. It was claimed that Nicole Scherzinger has already been removed from the show by boss Simon Cowell who wants to overhaul the series. And there had been suggestions that both Louis and his close friend Sharon Osbourne were to be removed as judges at a later date. However, the Irish Daily Mail can exclusively reveal that the former Westlife manager has a watertight contract for the new season which will begin filming in June – and which would cost ITV €1million to buy him out.
The new run is the third year of this three-year ITV deal which he signed alongside host Dermot O’Leary.
A close friend of the Mayoborn pop manager said he was ‘surprised’ at the reports but was ‘not concerned’.
‘Louis has his contract and it is watertight. There will be big changes on the show this year but he won’t be one of them. Neither will Sharon, she also has her contract. So it would cost ITV over €2million to pay them out of their contracts which would seem drastic especially when Simon was extremely pleased with how both of them performed last year.
‘Louis knew Nicole would not be returning to the show but he was under the impression she left on her own steam rather than was axed. She had a lot of fun last year but she wants to return to music and doesn’t have time to do both.
‘Louis and Simon are very close and he is confident that he wouldn’t sack him [by revealing it] in a newspaper.’
Original judges Louis and Sharon, both now 65, will return for the 15th season.
Gary Farrow, Ms Osbourne’s publicist, said the rumours she would be leaving the show were ‘b ****** s’.
He added that the star had signed a contract ‘for a lot of money’ and said ITV would have to pay out if they wanted to get rid of her.
According to the report yesterday, ex-judge Cheryl Tweedy, Britain’s Got Talent panellist Alesha Dixon, Kylie Minogue and Mariah Carey are rumoured to be in contention to replace Nicole.
However, a show insider said that it would be ‘extremely unlikely’ for Cheryl to get the empty spot on the line-up. ‘I don’t think Cheryl would fit in with that line-up. They will need a big name and personality because Nicole was so good. But Cheryl would unbalance things and Simon wants the 15th season to sizzle.’
Louis Walsh confirmed that he has a contract and is set to return to the show but declined to comment on rumours that he has been axed. ‘This is news to me. I have my contract and that’s all I know,’ he told the Mail.
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