The talent show that has launched Jedward and Leona Lewis pipped Strictly Come Dancing. Simon Cowell, who has just signed a mega-deal to export the X-Factor stateside, said: “I said we would win last year and we didn’t so that wasn’t a great feeling. This is much better.”

X-Factor judge Dannii Minogue, who sits at the table with Cheryl Cole, said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet but I can’t wait. As for X-Factor, we haven’t even started talking about the next series but, of course, I would love to be involved.”

Minogue has just announced her pregnancy with boyfriend Kris Smith. Of her future on the show, Cowell said:”I dunno what her dates are like. At the moment she’s having a baby in the middle of the show.”

Simon Cowell travelling The X Factor deal in the US is sure to pose a threat to the home edition, industry sources say.

The UK Mirror reports a source close to Cowell said: “He wants to stay making X Factor in the UK as well as his American deal but he can’t be in two places at once. The only real option is for one of the shows to shift. It makes sense for X Factor to move in the UK.”

Meanwhile, an ITV source said: “We feel like the bride who’s been left at the altar.”

Cowell’s departure from American Idol, which he laid to possible viewer fatigue, was announced early this week along with plans to move ahead with the mega entertainment vehicle he is planning to launch in Vegas.

He has still not formally agreed to the two-year contract, which is worth £10million ($16million). Cowell, meanwhile, appears to have left his co-judges and peers in awe.

X Factor judge Louis Walsh forecasts a big success for American X Factor. He told the Mirror: “If Simon is bringing X Factor to America I am sure it will be massive. He knows TV better than anyone else and he has an instinct for what people want to watch. I watched American Idol last series and I thought it looked a little bit tired. I think Simon has had enough of the format. But it is a big loss to Idol because people watch the show for him. Idol without Simon would be like the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger.”

Cowell is the top-earning television star in the US.

Foo Fighters star Dave Grohl has pledged his support to get Rage Against The Machine number this Christmas to beat The X Factor.

A campaign was started to get Rage Against the Machine’s single Killing in the Name to number one to stop X Factor boss Simon Cowell, 50, claiming another number one single with the winner of his UK talent show.

This year’s winner Joe McElderry, 18, recently released his version of Miley Cyrus’s The Climb and it is currently behind the band in mid-week sales.

Grohl, 40, said to Rock Radio: “We were on our way here and we stopped at a rest stop. It was 4.30 in the morning, I hadn’t slept all night and there was nobody in there except the one guy who works at the sandwich stand.

“I was paying for my sandwiches and he said: “Are you going to buy the Rage Against the Machine single this week?’ I said: ‘Yeah, I think I might have to!’

“It’s an incredible song and it’s meaningful – maybe people are craving something that actually means something.”

Jedward will take the floor of The X Factor with Wham! – aka George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley – hit songs.

The 1980s medley, which is expected to include I’m Your Man or Wham Rap!, was noted by The Daily Mail to have the potential to “disguise their off-key voices”.

Wham Rap!, the paper claimed, was the perfect track for John and Edward Grimes, who prefer rapping over singing. Leather-jacketed Wham! sent it to number 18 on the charts in 1983.

George Michael is tipped to make a surprise appearance at the Saturday night show, while Mariah Carey and Susan Boyle will perform on Sunday night. Ratings should soar.

Jedward this week drew controversy over an allegation it was rigged by muted sound that was ordered by the show’s bosses and its own revelations of a bullying past at a boarding school in Ireland.

The twins, whose performance on the latest round of X-Factor saw them narrowly pushed ahead while the Welsh singer Jones fell out of the race, have said: “We feel bad.”

The comment comes after the flood of protest that hit the ITV network after Simon Cowell’s deciding vote gave them the round. “We’re so, so sorry that you didn’t get through, you are an amazing singer. We think you are going to have a brilliant career and we hope you won’t blame us. It’s been incredible to perform on the show, but the last thing we want to do is upset anyone,” said Jedward.

Jones for her part had commended the Jedward act for its ability after losing out. She said:”They felt guilty and unnecessarily so. It is not their fault, they didn’t say to Simon ‘pick us, pick us’. They handled themselves very well. They were lovely and didn’t need to apologise.”

Co-judges Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole had supported her with their vote and Minogue, her mentor, was said today to be fuming with Cowell over the upset.

Cowell has lately found fault with Minogue and Cole for their judging and urged them to stop worrying about their fashion and on-screen image and start dishing out some constructive criticism. He maintained he had no idea what the public vote was when he made his deciding Jedward vote. He did say, however, that he knew the move would make him unpopular.

X Factor judge Simon Cowell has been called “Mr Coward” on an advertisement written on a van parked outside the X Factor house.

A van has been outside the house in north London where the remaining contestants are staying while they compete in the show.

It reads the message: “Is The X Factor turning into the Deadlock Factor Farce, Mr Coward! Singers need not apply… Let the studio audience decide in the future!”

Cowell has come under fire from fans of the show after he refused to send twins John and Edward home and put it back to the public vote.

The twins were then saved, and fellow contestant Lucie Jones was voted out.

TV presenter Myleene Klass would love to join Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue on The X Factor judging panel, she has revealed.

The 31-year-old said she is a big fan of the hit ITV show and would love to be part of it.

She said: “I can’t believe I missed the first X Factor show because I was at V Festival. I really love the show. Cheryl is my favourite judge, she’s fabulous, don’t you think?”

Myleene also admitted that she would jump at the chance of appearing on the show.

She said to British newspaper the Daily Star: “Simon Cowell is a good friend of mine. So who knows, maybe I’ll get to go on the show one day. I would absolutely love to, it would be an honour.”

Myleene, who appeared as the host of the US version of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, could get her wish sooner than later as a source said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Simon asked Myleene to join the show.

“He would love a harem of sexy ladies surrounding him, that’s just his style.”

Source: Splash News