Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne Back On X-Factor

The line-up of judges has been announced for the 2016 X Factor judges and the big news is that Irish star Louis Walsh is back.

The Irish pop impresario – who was behind the success of some of the biggest pop acts of the past 20-plus years, including Boyzone and Westlife – was one of the original stars of the reality TV pop show, but was controversially jettisoned for the 2015 edition. However the experiment with a new judging panel and presenters – Nick Grimshaw, Rita Ora and Cheryl Fernandez-Versing among them – was a flop, as TV audiences switched off. The final episode of 2015 was watched by almostt a million fewer viewers than in 2014. The big question now is: can they be won back by the old brigade?

That question becomes all the more relevant with Sharon Osbourne and former Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger, also rejoining the panel, alongside the show’s main man Simon Cowell.

The ‘old’ judging panel will also be re-joined by host Dermot O'Leary, who makes his return to the show after a year out. He was replaced last year by Caroline Fleck and Ollie Murs.

For Irishman Louis Walsh, it is not the first time that he's been has been let go – and then invited back to X-Factor. Back in 2007 he was dropped from the show. He was replaced by choreographer Brian Friedman, but Cowell was quickly forced to admit that he had made a mistake, bringing a smiling Louis back into the fold. Friedman became the show’s “creative director."

In 2015, it was the younger – and allegedly hotter – Nick Grimshaw who replaced Walsh. However the show went down badly with viewers, suggesting that Walsh’s legendary charm is more attractive to fans of the show than Cowell may have bargained for.

"I'm delighted to be back on the panel,,” Louis Walsh said," especially beside my two favourite female judges Sharon and Nicole, and I'm looking forward to taking them all back to Dublin this year, when we head there for auditions."

Whether it has anything to do with her decision to return to X-Factor, or not is unclear, but Sharon Osbourne recently announced her split from her husband, the legendary Heavy Metalled, Ozzy Osbourne. She was one of the original judges on the series, featuring on the panel from 2004 to 2007. She subsequently returned in 2013, before dropping out again.

Nicole Scherzinger, meanwhile, became a judge in 2012. Her contestant James Arthur won the series and she was again part of the judging team in 2013.
"I can't wait to be back in the UK and on the show,” Nicole said, "with the best judges sitting alongside me on the panel. I'm excited about discovering, mentoring and winning with an exciting new act this year. And having had winning contestants in the past, Simon knows I will do it."

Auditions will begin next week. A trip to Croke Park in Dublin has apparently been set for July 1 and, according to ITV, this year it's all back to basics with the return of the smaller audition rooms.