UK X RETURNS

As Channel 7 prepares to unveil the airdate for the local version, Britain’s The X Factor doesn’t seem to have suffered any ill effects over the loss of judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole, with official viewing figures from the first episode showing that the new panel of (l-r) Kelly Rowland, Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh and Tulisa Costastavlos from N-Dubz was a hit, with more than 12 million viewers tuning in for the premiere.

And of course the show, which returned over the weekend, once again served up a mixed bag of performances – from the rather intriguing Janet Devlin and her version of Elton’s ‘Your Song’ (HERE) to the slightly baffling Goldie Cheung (HERE), who staggeringly (and to Gary Barlow’s disbelief) made it through the audition process.

Seven’s local version (with Guy Sebastian, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Ronan Keating and Melanie B as judges) premieres soon.

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