[Xander]

SIMON Cowell will AXE Dannii Minogue from X Factor at the end of this series—despite reassuring her she’ll KEEP her judge’s job.
TV’s “Mr Nasty” has had secret talks with ITV bosses, telling them he wants Dannii replaced with a male version of Cheryl Cole, we can reveal.

Dannii’s only hope is if one of her acts wins—which is unlikely, especially after Rachel Hylton was booted out.

Rachel, 26, lost out to boyband JLS in the sing-off despite a storming performance of I’m Not Leaving Without You from the movie Dream Girls last night. Dannii said afterwards: “She’s an amazing amazing girl. I’m really sad she has to go.”

Last night Dannii’s sister Kylie revealed she had been emailing Dannii about the way Simon was treating her.

Kylie said: “It’s not fair the hard time she’s been given. I think she does amazingly well. I would be terrible. I wouldn’t quite know how to deal with it.”

Simon fancies Ronan Keating, Gary Barlow or another male singer to sit on the panel with him, Cheryl and Louis.

But he has told Dannii her job is SAFE—just like he did with Kate Thornton before dumping her as show host in 2006.

An insider said: “Simon’s made his decision. Once his mind’s made up it’s very hard to change. Even though ITV has the final say, Simon is the driving force behind X Factor. If Simon wants a man in Dannii’s place he’ll get it.”

Simon and Dannii were very close in the last series—before Cheryl arrived. Two weeks ago Dannii told us: “He moved me away from him and now sits next to Cheryl and is in her ear all the time. It is a snub.” But she added: “He’s made it clear I’ll be back.”

Our source said: “He has to make Dannii think her position is safe or she might walk now.”

Tensions heightened among the judges last night Dannii broke down in tears on live TV after Louis accused her of stealing a song from his act JLS to give to Rachel. But Simon defended her on The Xtra Factor on ITV2, calling Louis a “sore loser”.

...And Lily wants the job!

LILY Allen has got her eye on Dannii’s job—even though she’s not a fella!

The singer, 23, told us that Simon’s already said she’s great on TV. She revealed: “He spoke to me about being on TV after I was a judge on ITV’s Orange Playlist. He said I was brilliant on it and we should have a meeting.

“He gave me his number but I didn’t call him.” Then she giggled: “I’d love to do X Factor. As long as I sat next to Simon it’d be a right laugh.” Maybe she should sport a tash and tie...

<3 Lily to do it.