[Visage]

Louis Walsh is reportedly considering replacing Tulisa Contostavlos with Cheryl Cole on The X Factor after Simon Cowell allowed him to refresh the panel.

Cowell is said to have tasked the veteran judge with reversing the show's "disastrous" ratings crash, apparently giving him 48 hours to decide if Contostavlos, Kelly Rowland or Gary Barlow will be axed.

"Simon will do anything to turn the show around," a source told The Mirror. "It's no coincidence that as soon as the new team came in the viewers fell off. He thinks the only way to save he show is to get rid of some of the panel.

"Louis and Simon are best friends. Louis is his eyes and ears in the show, Simon's man on the ground, so he is the best-placed person to decide who gets the chop."

Cowell has told Walsh not to worry about the potential fallout of bringing back Cole, and assured the Irish manager that he would "rather scrap the whole show" than fire him.

"Louis is a businessman," the insider added. "If he thinks Cheryl will get the ratings back up he'll tell Simon to give Tulisa the chop, no matter how good friends they are.

"Cheryl was loved by the public in a way no other judge ever has been, before or since. Her comeback would guarantee a massive ratings boost."

A spokesperson for Roland dismissed suggestions that she has decided to quit The X Factor over her feud with Contostavlos.

[Beastie]

Bag of poo.

[Visage]

Do you think this would bring back viewers ?

Is it fair on the remaining acts to get new mentors at this stage in the competition ?

[Jordan.]

Doubt it Louis and Tulisa appear to get on well. He never really interacted with Cheryl.

[Black Dagger]

Tulisa > Cheryl.

Cheryl is ****ing useless and didn't care for any of her acts bar maybe the odd couple, she gave her acts horrific song choices and was generally cringe.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Visage

Do you think this would bring back viewers ?

Is it fair on the remaining acts to get new mentors at this stage in the competition ?

The ratings shot up when Cheryl joined and they've slumped now shes left. Coincidence, or does she really have that pull?

I think Cheryl and Nicole will replace Tulisa and Kelly next year which would be a bit of genius PR and could go some way to help the ratings problem. But ultimately, the acts on a whole are crap and unlikeable which is the main reason the ratings are down. The viewing figures were doing fine during the auditions/bootcamp and it wasn't really until the live shows that they've started to go into freefall. If the root cause truly lay with the judges then the ratings would've slipped a lot sooner, but another revamp is needed next year to draw a line under this sorry mess of a series.

Nothing will happen until next year anyway, Kelly will be back next week and as far as the producers are concerned, the rest of the series will be damage limitation.

[Firewire]

This is untrue. Louis and Tulisa get on really well and he wouldn't axe her. I think she's a fantastic judge. Better than Gary.

[Locke.]

More likely to axe Kelly and bring back Cheryl

[Niamh.]

I knew they'd find away to put Cheryl back in again. It's not very fair on the contestants or the judge that gets axed, mid show as well, that's rough tbh I think the ratings dropped because people are fed up of the same s**t every year, it's run it's course

[Vicky.]

I dont believe this for a second. Why would Simon allow Louis to make a massive decision like that?

[Jords]

Tulisa is brilliant

[Pyramid*]

Originally Posted by Jordan.

Doubt it Louis and Tulisa appear to get on well. He never really interacted with Cheryl.

got to agree with you. There was no love lost between Louis and Cheryl...... indeed, Louis thought she was a jumped up little madam and often told her that.

[Visage]

This is the first year I have watched the X Factor since Leona Lewis won the competition, mainly due to the fact Cole has been on the show. Plus I grew so tired of all the sob stories, it was getting ridiculous.

I hope they don't mess about with the panel this year.

[reece(:]

he would axe kelly or gary not tulisa

[Stevep]

are the ratings still doing badly? I read a couple of weeks ago that it was down two million, is it stillthe same?

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Stevep

are the ratings still doing badly? I read a couple of weeks ago that it was down two million, is it stillthe same?

9.9m last night and beaten by Strictly Come Dancing

[Stevep]

Originally Posted by Tom

9.9m last night and beaten by Strictly Come Dancing

what was the average last year? 11? 12?

[Saph]

Cheryl 'Devil' Cole should never step foot in the X Factor studios ever again.

I havnt enjoyed a series like this one since 07

[_Seth]

I'd love for Kelly and Gary to leave. I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Cheryl returning... I think I'd rather Dannii... If Gary goes, who will be the new alpha male?

I'm looking forward to next years changes.

[_Seth]

I really hope this is true (that Louis gets to make this decision) and axes Gary/Kelly.

(Just wanted to reiterate.)