Rita Ora confirmed on Twitter today she has quit the X Factor saying she "had a ball".
Followed by a message to Simon saying @simoncowell can't wait to work with you again... I'll be round for dinner soon. Thank you for the experience & love X
This puts Simon Cowell in an unenviable position of finding three judges before filming begins in a few weeks time.
An X Factor source revealed to The Sun: “Losing Rita is a huge blow – she’s one of the biggest stars in the country and Simon wanted her to return.
“She was very keen to do the show but at the end of the day it didn’t work out with her other commitments around the world in music and acting.
“It means we’re going to have to go through the biggest shake-up in the history of X Factor, but maybe it will turn out for the best.”
A spokesperson for The X Factor added: "Rita brought a great energy to the show last year and did a brilliant job mentoring the girls' category, leading Louisa to victory.
“We wish her all the best with her music and film plans for the rest of the year.”
Rita joins Nick Grimshaw, Cheryl, and hosts Caroline Flack and Olly Murs in leaving the show this year.
Simon has brought back Dermot O'Leary to host, now he has to find new judges.
Reports suggests Simon is doing all he can to hire Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger to join him on the panel. Ultimately, this is said to be his dream panel.
Louis confirmed he has had talks with Simon about coming back. Sharon could be a problem due to her commitment to her talk show based in LA. Nicole is due to perform on Broadway in Cats later in the year.
With no other names circulating as possible judges, we could well see the return of Louis, Sharon and Nicole if they can work around their other commitments.
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