Tulisa: 'I don't think Cheryl Cole will join me on X Factor' - listen

Tulisa Contostavlos has suggested that she would like Cheryl Cole to join her on the X Factor UK judging panel.

However, speaking to James Merritt for Free Radio, the N-Dubz star also expressed doubts that they would ever share the same talent show stage.



Asked who she would like to replace the departing Kelly Rowland on the show, Contostavlos said: "I've got asked this question quite a few times now and it really does depend.

"If I was a producer and I was picking judges for the show, I would probably go for different people than who I would like if I was on the show and wanted sitting next to me."

She added: "I was a big fan of the show before I was on the panel. So I used to love watching Cheryl, so I would... yeah... I don't think that's going to happen though."



Asked the secret of having success with a girl group on The X Factor, Contostavlos gave Little Mix the credit for their victory.

"I think they're the secret," she said. "There was something different about them. They weren't like your usual girlband.

"Girls could connect with them. It's so hard to find a girlband who girls can connect with and there was just something about them.

"They were so real, normal, girls next door, down to earth that people just warmed to them. They were just loveable girls."

Former X Factor judge Dannii Minogue has been tipped to return to the panel after Rowland's exit and Contostavlos has said that she would get on well with the Australian.

Photo gallery: Tulisa Contostavlos's career in pictures

Copyright: Rex Features Julian Makey/Rex Features