Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh are set to turn the tables on each other in a new twist to x Factor this year.
The production team have made the new series the most competitive yet – by allowing judges to pick each other’s acts.
For the first time ever, the panel – Nicole Scherzinger , Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne – have been told to pick one wildcard act for a rival judge to add to their final six before the judges’ houses leg of the competition.
A show source told The Mirror: “We love adding new twists and it was felt that introducing wildcard acts earlier in the series would liven things up and make the show edgier.
“The fixed-chair challenge is hard enough but now there’s been scope for a bit of tactical game-playing, with each judge picking an extra act for a rival. It’s already caused a few fireworks.”
The singers, who have been given a lifeline, have already been selected.
The judges are only being allowed to take only three acts each through from their judges' house selection to the live finals , meaning four acts will be eliminated instead of the usual three.
Louis is expected to complete his Judges' house section this week, the others will film theirs over the next couple of weeks.
X Factor returns to ITV on Saturday at 8pm
