Not everyone had to wait until tonight to see the X Factor 2011 premiere in the USA and they’re letting us know what they thought of Simon’s decision to replace Cheryl Cole with Nicole Scherzinger as the fourth judge.

Cheryl was one of the very first rumored judges to be slated to join Simon as she was originally on the X Factor UK version with him. Then for whatever reason, lots of rumors exist, Cheryl Cole was cut after the first week and replaced with Scherzinger. Not a good decision, says NY Times, LA Times, and Chicago Tribune.

NY Times finds Nicole to be a “downgrade” from Cheryl and lacking in contributions:

In the premiere [Cole] just kind of disappears midshow, without much explanation, and suddenly Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls is in her chair. It’s a downgrade. Ms. Cole showed glimmers of being interesting; in two seasons as a judge on “The Sing-Off” on NBC, Ms. Scherzinger was a pretty face but, judicially speaking, not much more than a seat warmer.”

LA Times preferred Cheryl to Nicole:

When the show opens, in L.A. for open auditions, the fourth judge is Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole, but by the time they move to Seattle, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls has taken her place. Cowell has said he replaced Cole because she seemed “bewildered,” but on a first impression, she is much more interesting than Scherzinger… in early scenes [Scherzinger] seems more interested in tearing up and out-glamming “Idol’s” Jennifer Lopez than bringing much to the commentary.

Chicago Tribune compares Nicole to Kara:

[Simon] told Piers Morgan that Cole had seemed “bewildered” in the role, although Scherzinger doesn’t come off as an obvious improvement in the early going. She’s more earnest like Kara DioGuardi than lovable like Jennifer Lopez.”

I had been pretty excited about Simon bringing over Cole as she earned lots of rave reviews in the UK. Now instead we’ll get someone who has only earned “meh” reviews in her previous role as a singing competition judge. No clue what Simon was thinking on that one. Maybe Nicole’s dozens of fans made a convincing argument.

Source: Cheryl Online


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