The former Pussycat Doll is rumoured to be returning to the judging panel of the show after Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Rita Ora and Nick Grimshaw left, leaving only Simon Cowell as a definite for the next series.
Musical theatre wizard Andrew Lloyd Webber has now said she quit his show Cats in favour of The X Factor, leaving him in the shit, and he is NOT happy.
Whether Nicole has actually signed on the dotted line for the ITV talent contest remains to be seen, but Cats bosses are now left searching for a new star.
Andrew told Economist Radio: “A week before we were going to go into rehearsal with Cats on Broadway, which luckily I’m not producing, she calls me and says she’s decided she wants to do X Factor, having agreed everything.
“I mean, she’s crazy. But the American producers just took a view - ‘Well, fine, we’ll get somebody else’, because she’s actually not very well known in America amazingly. She’s much better known here.
He added: “I’m furious because I really believe she’s the most fantastically talented girl and I went out on a limb to get her for the London Palladium here, and it makes me look like an absolute twot with them all.
“But never mind, there’ll be another girl on Broadway and Nicole will not get her Tony Award.”
Meanwhile, Louis Walsh an Sharon Osbourne are also widely rumoured to be making a return.