Geri Halliwell, Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart, Katy Perry... Sinitta. Every man, woman and even Pudsey the Dog has been touted as possible replacements for Kelly Rowland on The X Factor over recent weeks, but with only days to go before the latest series begins filmed auditions in Liverpool, we're still no nearer finding out who will complete this year's lineup.

Louis Walsh is back. Obviously. As are Gary and Tulisa. But with Dannii Minogue refusing to seal a deal with Simon Cowell *insert your own gag here* there is still no fourth judge on the panel.



A series of stand-ins are reportedly being lined up for the audition rounds, but a full-time panellist will be needed come Judges' Houses time at the end of the summer.

ITV and X Factor sources have hinted heavily that they'll want a like-for-like replacement for Kelly on the panel. That means they want a heavyweight, elder statesman-like female, to balance out the more edgy, youthful Tulisa. i.e. Get someone who has heard of Aretha Frankin's 'Think'.

A return for Sharon Osbourne would appear to be the most obvious pick - she knows the drill, Louis would love it and she makes great headlines - but her gig on America's Got Talent and recent comments about Simon Cowell's, ahem, manhood, probably rule her out.



Elsewhere, the various Spice Girls continue to swirl around the show eagerly hoping for a bite of Simon Cowell's money-making pie. Emma's probably ruled out for the fact that she's a reality TV disaster (see Dancing on Ice and Don't Stop Believing.) Posh couldn't possibly leave LA to spend four months at Fountain Studios. Mel B is a possible, but combining her with Louis on live TV sounds like sheer madness.

Geri has been there and done it with Popstars: The Rivals and a guest gig on X Factor. She's never impressed particularly as a TV personality on either occasion, but she's definitely free and up for it. Two factors that are not to be quibbled with.

Mel C would be a popular pick - she's confident, vocally talented and a little less loopy than some of her former bandmates - but she may lack the glam factor that ITV and Cowell like in their female stars.



Meanwhile, Katy Perry, Nicole Scherzinger, Adele and Lily Allen can all probably be ruled out on the grounds that they are either far too busy or wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

Frankie Sandford was linked to the job last year, but like the rest of the Saturdays, may not have the crossover appeal to demand a judge spot in 2012. Likewise, Natalie Imbruglia still feels like a weak contender when it comes to credentials. She may have (allegedly) "done a Minogue" with Cowell, but her not-particularly-extensive music back catalogue doesn't hold up fantastically well.

However, Tulisa, Dannii Minogue and even Cheryl Cole and Amanda Holden were hardly screaming out to be TV judges when Simon Cowell picked them for his various shows, so TV experience and age isn't necessarily a key factor.

When Dannii Minogue was plucked out of relative dance chart obscurity to take part in the reality show, nobody could genuinely hold their hand up and say that they saw it coming. Ditto Tulisa. So don't be surprised if there's another leftfield selection for series nine.



Maybe one of All Saints could give it a whirl. Shaznay or either of the Appletons would be great in our opinion. Louise Redknapp was a bore on So You Think You Can Dance, but we'd be willing to forgive her that if a spot on X Factor reignited her solo pop career.

A Sugababe (version 1.0 obviously) would add some bolshy class. Or how about reuniting Gary Barlow with his old mate Carol Decker?

Cyndi Lauper, Cher (yes, we know we're getting into dreamland now) or Shania Twain would be good veteran US picks if Cowell is willing to pay out the big bucks and fork out for the air fares. But after the misfire with Kelly, we suspect ITV will be searching closer to home.

And of course, if all else fails, if everything goes wrong, if nobody picks up the phone, there is always Sinitta.



Who do you want to see as the fourth judge on X Factor? Let us know below!

Louis Walsh branded The Voice UK boring earlier this week, and someone behind the scenes at the BBC was clearly listening. Tonight's fourth live show was many things - shambolic, chaotic, bonkers - but never dull.

From the moment Jessie J had to call off and restart her group performance at the start of the show because her earpiece wasn't working ("This is live TV, people!"), I knew we were going to be in for a great night.



It suddenly turned into the Crossroads of reality shows - you half expected one of the giant hands to fall down at any moment and land on Danny O'Donoghue's bouffant. It felt like an episode of Brucie's Generation Game. Slickness and professionalism was replaced with a bit of edge and a little more light entertainment.

Every tabloid TV critic and close friend of Simon Cowell has had a pop at The Voice in recent weeks. Falling ratings has encouraged a sense of smug satisfaction from those who deemed the show a failure before it even aired. 'It's too serious', they moaned. 'It's not as funny as X Factor', they whinged.

Besides the rather glaring fact that you'll struggle to find a show more conceited or happy to celebrate its own glory than The X Factor or Britain's Got Talent, tonight's Voice live show felt like a double-finger salute to the critics. It was barmy and silly, rather than pompous or self-important. Two traits the show has perhaps been guilty of in recent weeks.



All the show really needed was a bit of edge and a bit less Danny O'isn't everything wonderful.

will.i.am provided the bite, digging into Team Danny's acts with some laidback snarkiness that had more spike than his shoulderpads.

And the edge was provided by the acts themselves. Aleks Josh delivered a hands-in-pockets Jack Johnson cover that felt like one cheeky elongated laddish wink at every female viewer, before scowling and backchatting the coaches when will.i.am suggested that he was being lazy.

Vince Kidd dished up a ragged Notting Hill Carnival take on Whitney Houston's 'My Love is Your Love' while dressed in leather trousers and a Brian Harvey-esque baseball cap.



Cassius Henry pulled the short straw and had to sing on a spinning stage, Max Milner spent the first half of his performance mucking around with an effects pedal and Bo Bruce came along dressed as Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Meanwhile, Becky Hill rattled through 'Seven Nation Army' - sporting crimped hair and an army surplus jacket - barking out her lyrics in the faces of the coaches and seemingly mouthing the word "f**k" after forgetting her words. Whatever you wanted to call it, it definitely wasn't dull.

Of course there are still glaring problems - like the V-Room. I keep half expecting Holly to cut to Reggie Yates in his little studio, sobbing: "Why am I here, Holly? What's even the point? Nobody cares about our social media wizardry apart from some suited BBC exec who wets his knickers at the words 'Twitter interaction'."



But tonight, it was easy to forgive the show's weaknesses. Sir Tom Jones seemed to still be operating on a five-minute delay from everyone else, but witnessing him rapping "how now brown cow" at Jessie J was surreal genius.

Holly Willoughbooby's insistence on keeping the Daily Mail Online's pictures team busy with her bust continues to amuse. Not even an addition of what appeared to be a WWE belt could distract from the gaping hole in the middle of her outfit, or the fact that she teamed the dress with a pair of heels so high they made her tower over every male act like a Russ Meyer sex-vixen. Poor old Cassius didn't know where to look.

The best compliment I could pay tonight's Voice is that the weakness of the vocals didn't bother me. Even the show's strongest singers picked dodgy tracks and gave wonky vocals tonight. But I couldn't give a fig, when it feels like there's some energy and fizz inside the Elstree studio.



Who's going to go home tomorrow night? Our guess is Toni, Cassius, David and Max. Regardless of who stays and who leaves, as long as the show is as loopy as this evening's instalment, we'll be back every Saturday until the final.

What did you think of tonight's Voice UK live show? Share your verdict below!

Correct us if we're wrong, but isn't the idea of The Apprentice that as the process continues the morons who fluffed up their CVs enough to con a BBC casting director are weeded out, leaving nothing but brilliant business minds?

So why then is this week's episode arguably the most gaffe-heavy of the series? We're at the final stages of the competition, but pretty much every one of the final eight either has an eye-rolling case of verbal diarrhoea or completely fails to understanding the concept of the task.

Lord Sugar, for some reason, is on a crusade to raises awareness of English sparkling wine - apparently solely because too much attention is being paid to the French and that horrible champagne stuff. Hoorah for casual xenophobia!



To do so, the candidates will have to design a website and online marketing campaign, then pitch it to leading figures in the wine industry. And that's not just bored housewives and students looking for a quick way to get buzzed fast on a Saturday night, that's scary executive types.

Team Phoenix, now with Nick Holzherr, go ahead and elect Tom Gearing for a second consecutive stint as project manager on the basis that as a fine-wine director this task is basically... well, his job.

Forgetting that the problem with leading tasks apparently tailor-made to you is that every screw-up is amplified, Tom leaps at the opportunity to start glugging down wine flavoured like Christmas cake (according to Adam Corbally) on a bromantic trip to a vineyard with the Derby market trader.



Nick and Jade Nash, however, are barred from the fun and instead have to attend meetings with graphic designers and other such tiresome activities. While they barely have time to nip down the offy for a four-pack of Strongbow on their way home, Tom and Adam are getting smashed and slurring into the camera.

You know what, people should be drunk on The Apprentice more often. I'd love the idea of someone putting their arm around a CEO during a pitch and calling them their best mate, or asking Lord Sugar to step outside when he starts getting cheeky in the boardroom.



Team Sterling is being led by DS punching bag-done-good Ricky Martin. Despite hating wine and generally being down about the whole task because Team Phoenix are experts on everything it requires, our favourite professional wrestler with a business degree actually turns in an impressive performance this week. He's probably the episode's most valuable candidate in fact.

He manages well, conducts himself in a professional manner and, unlike many a candidate, latches on to the point of the task immediately and establishes that the emphasis of the campaign should be on the quality of the wine. Basically it's all good stuff and we're a bit concerned that at this rate we'll be forced to stop making 'She Bangs' jokes altogether.

But what good is The Apprentice if everybody is credible? This week's prize plonker is Stephen Brady, who tries to track down a wine connoisseur in Tesco, suggests naming their campaign "Chink" and finally settles on "Grandeur" for a title - which, obviously, is a French word. Plus, he still gives us the creeps.



Dishonourable mentions also go to Adam and Jenna Whittingham, who manage to make fools of themselves while shooting the adverts for their teams. What is it about a set and a camera that makes Apprentice candidates lose their minds?

Adam's mistake is continuing to give the impression that he's a complete idiot by demanding that he become choreographer again, even though the premise of the ad is a group of friends sitting down, drinking wine in a gastropub (read: no dancing).

Jenna, meanwhile, spends the shoot doing impressions of Basil Fawlty and turns in a similarly farcical product. Under her watch, Ricky's idea of setting their advert at a glamorous wedding gets turned into a bride chewing the scenery and spitting out an inferior sparkling wine while Take That plays in the background. Suffice to say, he is not impressed.



When it comes to pitch time, the wine industry experts aren't exactly thrilled with either team's effort. Phoenix get a telling-off for creating a boring promo and a website that could become obsolete, while Sterling's pitch goes well until that horrendous advert comes out and kills everything.

After filming some clips of himself saying generic, scripted lines into a phone as some wine executives pretend to tell him their thoughts, Lord Sugar later announces in the boardroom that Phoenix have won. This is despite them literally failing to do everything they were asked. They just didn't turn the whole thing into a cheesy mess like Sterling. So yeah, like we said, not exactly a proud moment for any of the candidates this week.



Ricky of course brings Jenna and her partner-in-crime on the video shoot Stephen to the final boardroom. Jenna desperately repeats how she's a risk taker, takes risks, plays risky and risks it all in an attempt to save herself, as next to her Stephen continues with that passive-aggressive and deflective thing he's got going on, which really does come across as terrifying. Specifics!

In the end, Stephen lives to suck another day as Jenna becomes the ninth casualty of the boardroom. She may not be able to pronounce grandeur, but hopefully the driver of her black cab will be able to understand "single fare to Lancashire".

What did you think of this week's Apprentice? Was the right person fired? Leave your comments below!

There used to be a time when The Apprentice was on that I used to spend my Wednesdays sat in the Digital Spy offices in silence. As much as a muttering, a smile or a snigger would apparently "spoil" the evening's entertainment. Use of the words "he" or "she" during phone interviews with the fired candidates before the show went out was frowned upon and I was forced to type up interviews and news in codes so that it didn't ruin the result for our subbing team.

But in recent years that buzz around Lord Sugar's Apprentice has drifted and this year's show has barely caused a stir even when I've accidentally blurted out the name of the fired candidate.



This series of The Apprentice has felt at times like watching a footballer during the final season of his career. The show looks the same, it's still doing all the right things, but the old magic has gone. Occasionally there are glimpses of what made it great in the past, but they are all too fleeting.

Don't get us wrong, we'll still always tune in every Wednesday. We wouldn't want to miss a growled one-liner from Shugs or a single wince from Hewer, but when it comes to clowns in suits hurtling around London's city centres flogging "old tut", screaming down mobile phones like they've never used one before and making blunder after blunder during the same old tasks, we can't help but get a strong sense of deja-vu.

The Apprentice formula is brilliant. It is produced by TV geniuses. It's smart, witty and sharply produced. And between series two and series four, you won't find a more funny or brilliant reality TV show no matter how hard you look.

But it is the same format, the same follies and the same grizzled Sugar that we've been seeing for the last eight series now (and two Young spinoffs). Twists in the prize, twists in the tasks and the replacement of Margaret Mountford with Karren Brady have done nothing to stop the slide into what is close to becoming self-parody.



The change of format from a job with Sugar to a £250,000 investment appeared to signpost a change in the show's tone, switching from a jokey mood to a more serious credit-crunch solving tact. This hasn't been to the show's benefit because when The Apprentice goes serious, it goes dull.

Maybe, the 'big characters' have just run dry, maybe the next Stuart Baggs or Michael Sophocles are too busy making a ham-fist of our economy, but for whatever reason the big buffoons of yesteryear appear to have dried up.

The latest crop look the part - a wrestler who quotes lines like "witness the fitness", a boggle-eyed, over-enthusiastic David Brent-type in a shiny suit, a woman calling herself the Blonde Assassin - but in reality they've lacked the killer bite of a Jenny C, Katie Hopkins or Tre and the surreal lack of awareness of a Lucinda or a Raef.



People often suggest that The Apprentice is let-down by its lack of proper business people. That's rubbish. If we wanted to watch proper business people, we'd all enjoy those three-hour long meetings with PowerPoint presentations and stat-heavy facts about our company's annual turnover. But we don't.

We'd much rather be giggling at a cat falling off a radiator on YouTube. Or guffawing at an idiot in a suit being bludgeoned by Sugar in the boardroom after spending seven hours trying to figure out what a cloche is.

We never imagined we'd look back at Stuart Baggs's field of ponies fondly, long for the days of Pants Man, or pine for a glimpse of Syed jabbering in the boardroom. But we do. This year's rabble - Stephen Brady, Adam Corbally and Ricky Martin - are too knowing, too sensible and too TV savvy. In the words of the great Nick Hewer, they are all ding and no dong.

So is it time Lord Sugar was given the chop and fired from the Beeb? The ratings for the show are still not to be sniffed at, especially when it has to go up against football on Sky and ITV regularly and the media is too busy writing about The Voice and Simon Cowell's dancing dogs to notice who is grumbling at who in the boardroom.



Could the show be revived with another head honcho in the place of Shugs? Personally, I'd rather the show was put to bed quietly so we could remember its golden era without it being tainted by further spinoffs or reboots. The prospect of Peter Jones's Apprentice or Richard Branson's Apprentice just sounds odd and in the case of Jones - awful.

A great businessman should know when they've had their day and when to move onto something else. Hopefully, Sugar will remember those classic words from Margaret Mountford in the boardroom on Edinburgh University and realise that his once great TV show "ain't what it used to be".

What do you think of this year's Apprentice? Do you think the show should be shelved? Is it time to replace Lord Sugar? Share your verdict below!

The Apprentice's biggest ever buffoons - Photo gallery

After weeks and weeks of singers, psychos and a lot of dance acts, Britain's Got Talent tonight comes to a close for another year with possibly its strongest lineup of finalists yet.

Simon Cowell may very well get his wish of a dog act winning, as Ashleigh & Pudsey are the ones to beat according to the bookies. But we wouldn't rule out Jonathan and Charlotte, Ryan O'Shaughnessy or Loveable Rogues just yet.

And of course there's the possibility that the mystery wildcard could pull off the ultimate underdog victory.

Join Digital Spy from 7.30pm as we say goodbye to Simon, David, Amanda and Alesha and watch the winner get crowned.

We already have a dancing dog, some synchronised swimmers and a gaggle of singers, but there is still one spot left to be filled in Saturday's Britain's Got Talent final.

Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden can pick one act from the losing semi-finalists to join the top 10 as a wildcard and hand them a second chance to battle for the £500,000 grand prize.

But who should be given the free pass to the final? Reality Bites has picked out its favourite acts from the also-rans who didn't quite make the cut first time around.

Martyn Crofts
A man with a pan on his head doing Dalek impressions. What more explanation do you need? Just for the fact we might get another shot of multi-millionaire Simon Cowell sat with some kitchenware balanced on his fuzzy flat-top means Martyn gets our vote.



Lauren Thalia
A child singer who doesn't come across as precocious. A child singer who will shrug her shoulders and move on rather than burst into tears if she loses. Lauren Thalia is remarkably grounded and also remarkably talented. She was unlucky to get lumped in the strongest semi-final on day one.



Mr Zip
BGT may have lacked a bit of fizz and fun this year, but Mr Zip did his fair share to keep us entertained. His 'Where My Keys, Where My Phone' ditty is the most evil of catchy earworms, but damn it, we want to hear it again.



Dennis Egel
A barmy German singing while dressed in an all-gold metallic Power Rangers-esque costume. Dennis Egel was the epitome of BGT nuttiness and the show is less fun without him in it.



Billy George
We're still not entirely sure what Billy George's act is (something to do with spinning in a giant hula hoop), but for his torso alone, the readers of Gay Spy should be keeping their fingers crossed that Billy gets a second chance.



The Mend
Another act which was unlucky to be part of the strong first semi-final lineup, The Mend were beaten by Pudsey the dog first time around. However, these rough-around-the-edges Mancunians showed plenty of promise in their two performances. We all know how much Cowell likes a boyband, so they are probably the favourites to get the nod.



Twist & Pulse Dance Company
Their mentors Twist & Pulse finished runners-up, so they know what the judges are looking for, but they were edged out in the public vote during the semi-finals. The strongest of all the dance troupes this year, T&PDC are more than worthy finalists if the judges want some body-popping moves in the final.



Who do you think should win the judges' wildcard vote? Let us know below!

[Photo gallery - Britain's Got Talent finalists]

If you're a fan of singers, dance acts and dogs, chances are you're pretty happy with the Britain's Got Talent finalists so far.

However, if like us you'd prefer the ending of the ultimate variety show to have a bit of... variety, you'll be keeping your fingers crossed that tonight Dalek impersonator Martyn Crofts and laser-harpist Greig Stewart top the votes.

Join Digital Spy from 7.30pm to discover who will grab the final two spots in Saturday's final and laugh at those who don't.

Nothing is more likely to send a ripple of excitement around the Apprentice house than the announcement that they are being summoned to an airport or train station or the hilariously-misleading London Gateway services.

But there's no holiday for the candidates this week, as Lord Sugar calls them to Waterloo just to show them some graffiti in a dingy tunnel. The Canary Wharf types in the group must have been struggling to hide their grimaces when Sugarbot announces from his TV that their next task is to sell scribblings like these. They have to pick two urban artists, find corporate clients and sell the work at a gallery - the team that makes the most commission wins.



It soon becomes clear that Derbyshire market trader Adam Corbally is not going to be able to fake it as a cutting edge street art savant. The man is genuinely shocked that nobody knows Banksy's identity and describes him as being like The Stig of Top Gear. He's basically useless without a can of fake tan to flog.

Thank goodness project manager Tom Gearing is there to hold Team Phoenix together, painting himself as some kind of street art connoisseur, dropping names all over the place and reeling out some impressive facts and figures about the scene. He almost sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

In fact Nick Hewer describes him as a "very strong leader" and an all-round excellent candidate. God, just call it quits now and give him the 250k. He's been talked up as a genius in every darn episode so far.



Believe it or not Tom does show that he's imperfect this week, losing his first choice artist 'Pure Evil' to Team Sterling, overseen by the much more enthusiastic Gabrielle Omar. Panicking, he chooses to sell alongside the relatively marketable artwork of 'Copyright' pieces by James Jessop - which just happen to be about 12ft tall and have five-figure price tags.

Sterling don't have much reason to be smug though, since they put on an absolutely shameful display when meeting with corporate client Beefeater Gin, failing to ask about trivial matters such as budget, size and location when trying to establish the kind of artwork they want. Then when representatives from the company make an appearance at Sterling's gallery, they're treated by Stephen Brady like a bunch of nerds who have shown up to a popular party uninvited. There's no need to wait to the boardroom to deduce that they buy nothing.

Stephen's antics at the gallery are just one aspect of a particularly underwhelming and overly-irritating performance. Other cock-ups of his this week include suggesting that their second artist Nathan Bowen do a live painting session hidden away outside in order to be a bit mysterious like Banksy, an idea so half-baked that it could give you salmonella. His smart-arsed, eyebrow-cocking response to Gabrielle when she lets him down gently instead of laughing in his face is just too punchable and the glare he gives whenever a prospective buyer says they'll "think about it" is... well, terrifying.



At the galleries both teams are having the same issue - the cheap pieces are selling like crazy, the more expensive ones aren't. Not even a miraculous comeback from Adam, who manages to charm snooty collectors with his countryboy charm, is enough to shift the giant Jessops. Laura Hogg, this year's 'how the hell are they still here?' candidate, doesn't help matters by floating around, tapping people on the shoulder and asking if they're alright instead of actually trying to rake in some mulah.

In the boardroom, Gabrielle gets a good telling off for treating the Beefeater Gin lot with the same forethought and tact as someone who's spent the whole day hammering G&Ts, but claims the win anyway by a £137 margin.

Understandably, all fingers are pointed at Tom for losing Pure Evil and choosing instead to sell artwork bigger than most people's living rooms and 20 times more expensive than the DFS sofas therein. But the others aren't out of danger just yet, as Laura gets pulled up for only selling £750 worth of paintings and Jade has to answer accusations that she is indecisive.



Only Adam receives praise and is allowed to return to the house, which we actually approve of for once. Credit where credit's due, he stumbled into greatness this week and backed up his many clangers with some impressive selling skills. However, we're not holding out much hope for another great performance next week. This is the man who suggested serving corn beef as a gourmet meal, remember.

Back in the boardroom, Laura does her best to squirm away from Sugar's firing finger once more with some darn convincing chat. And she almost manages it - the Lord admits that she is a good talker and for a second there it looks as though the planned Tom victory might have to be aborted. But the Scottish siren's luck finally runs out and she is booted from the competition. In her eyes it's a "travesty", in our eyes... well, ours are transfixed on Super Tom. The editors have managed to convince us he's a God - we might be a little in love.

A dancing dog, some ballroom dancers, a cheeky chappy indie trio, a child singer, an opera duo and a humongous Welsh Choir have already made this weekend's Britain's Got Talent finale. But who will be joining them?

After tonight's semi-final two more acts will be voted through to Saturday's extravaganza. Hoping to live up to the challenge are burlesque performer Beatrix Von Bourbon, 9-year-old singer Malaki Paul, bad stand-up comedian Gatis Kandis, girl group Be Minor, singer Chica Latina, 40-year-old ballroom dancers the Sugar Dandies, singer Sam Kelly, magicians Brynolf and Ljung and dance group Nu Sxool.

Digital Spy will be live-blogging all the action from 7.30pm tonight on ITV1. Stick with us for punditry and our verdict on the acts throughout the evening.