Following the departure of Dermot O’Leary from The X Factor, there are reports that the ITV talent search is about to lose another long-standing regular.
Acccording to the Daily Star Sunday there have been murmurings that the show’s 62-year-old judge Louis Walsh will be replaced by former Take That star Robbie Williams.
Louis, who has managed bands including Boyzone, Westlife and Girls Aloud, has been on the show since it began in 2004. In 2007, however, Louis was sacked from the judges’ panel by the show’s creator and boss Simon Cowell, and replaced by American choreographer Brian Friedman. But when that didn’t work out, Louis was reinstated after just a few weeks.
Now it seems he could be getting the push for good.
Robbie, who left Take That in 1995, and briefly rejoined to the band in 2010, is no stranger to The X Factor. When Gary Barlow was a judge on the series, Robbie joined his bandmate as a guest judge at the “judges’ houses” stage of the competition.
The Sunday newspaper quoted a source saying: “Simon is planning major changes for this year's X Factor and one of them is getting rid of Louis.
"It's not 100% finalised yet but Simon knows he needs to make the show current and credible and Louis no longer ticks those boxes."
