Not bad for four days work! Axed Cheryl Cole will receive full £1.2million U.S. X Factor fee

Cheryl Cole will receive her complete £1.2million US X Factor fee – despite being fired after just four days work.

The star – who was dramatically axed earlier this week – will be given her full fee for the series despite working for just four days of auditions, a senior X Factor source revealed.

That means she will receive £300,000 a day for her ill-fated US adventure.

Gutted: Simon Cowell has told a friend he feels bad that Cheryl has been sacked from the American version of X Factor

An insider admitted: ‘Cheryl would expect the full £1.2million payment as a pay-off – despite her leaving the show so abruptly.’

Meanwhile, a close friend of Cowell has spoken to the Daily Mail and revealed he was ‘gutted’ at her axing – and ‘feels terribly bad’ about the shock sacking.

The friend revealed: ‘Simon is gutted for Cheryl. He fought to get her on there.

‘It took him months to get her on the show in the first place and he feels terribly bad that it didn’t work.’  

The friend went on: ‘He understands that she is upset. But Simon can’t make it work. He did everything he could. He fought to keep her on the show.’

‘But ultimately it is the TV network that decides. And they just didn’t think it was working.’

Long-serving UK X Factor judge Louis Walsh, meanwhile, last night added that he was ‘sorry’ it did not work out for her in the US.

However, he added to the Mail he would ‘love’ her to return to the programme.

 

Harsh: Cheryl came under fire during her first appearance. People said her hair was too big and came under criticism for her choice of clothing

‘I feel sorry for her you know, but that’s showbusiness,’ he said. He then issued a remarkable plea for her to return to the UK show.

He said: ‘The public would love her to do it. The public love her.  

‘She is brilliant on the show, she is great fun, she ticks every single box. I want her back, please come back Cheryl.’

‘She will pick herself up and she will dust herself down and she will just get on with it and the public love her.

‘She will be star of the show, absolutely. It would be the perfect result [her coming back].’

Auditions for the UK version are due to begin next week but Cheryl has said she wants twice her usual £1m fee if she returns, especially after her hasty exit from the American show.

'It is humiliating for Cheryl,' a source told The Sun, 'she believes she should be handsomely compensated for it.'

Walsh said, as far as he was concerned, only he and Take That singer Gary Barlow were definitely signed-up.

Meanwhile, more details of the ending of Mrs Cole’s US nightmare have emerged.

A source close to Cowell also told how Mrs Cole suffered during the early

Rivals: There was speculation from the start that Nicole Scherzinger would be a judge on the American show

days of filming of the programme. 

The source revealed: ‘You’ve got pretty experienced characters there. You’ve got big characters and Paula has a massive history with Simon.

‘He also wanted Paula on the show – and the chemistry between them was amazing.  That hurt Cheryl.

‘It wasn’t that Cheryl was bad – but she was nervous. Fox didn’t get what they expected with her.

‘Simon had convinced them how incredible she was – and yet when she came over she was just so nervous.’

Network executives – who had warned Cowell from the off that Mrs Cole was on an informal probation because of her lack of status in the US -  raised further concerns over Mrs Cole’s performance last week. She was then formally told she was being axed on Tuesday. 

The Mail told yesterday how Mrs Cole is ‘furious’ with Cowell and the X Factor bosses at being axed from the show.  She feels ‘humiliated and let down,’ by them.

She is even ready to snub their attempts to offer her the ‘olive branch’ of a return to the British X Factor.

However, last night, ITV bosses remained hopeful they will be able to persuade Mrs Cole to sign up for the British version of the X Factor.

It is understood the lines of communication are still open and that even though auditions for the show begin next week and eleventh hour deal could still be done.

However, one source said the British judging panel had already been – all but – decided.

Amongst those due to be joining the judging panel as well as Walsh and Barlow are US pop star Kelly Rowland and Tulisa Contostavlos from pop band N-Dubz.

However, the Daily Mail has learned that Miss Contostavlos contract had still not been rubber-stamped by X Factor bosses yesterday.

 

Impressed: Chery later wowed with her choice of outfits at Cannes, left, but she was soon sacked from the show because people were battling to understand her

A source revealed: ‘The contract went over on Monday and everybody thought it would be signed off pretty quickly.

‘But there seems to have been a hold up. Tulisa’s camp are starting to get pretty worried.’

Meanwhile, Mrs Cole’s rival US judge Paula Abdul says her reunion with Simon Cowell on his new talent show is ‘still in the honeymoon phase.’

The ‘lack of chemistry’ between Mrs Cole and Miss Abdul was cited as one of the reasons for the Girls Aloud singer’s exit.

Miss Abdul – showing little sign of sadness for her former colleague – told reporters on a trip to Singapore to promote a theme park  that The US X Factor ‘ginormous.’

Abdul said she and Cowell have ‘a wonderful, exquisite, challenging and frightening relationship.’ 

Nation's sweetheart: Cheryl could do no wrong on the British version of X Factor and Simon Cowell openly spoke of his fondness for her

A TV insider claimed the decision to axe Miss Cole was made last weekend.

It was said during the first auditions she ‘could not get a word in edgewise’ with Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul dominating - and when she did speak some contestants ‘couldn’t understand her.’

There is also said to have been on-going tension from day one on the show between Miss Cole and Miss Abdul over who would sit next to Cowell, described as ‘a seat war,’ by the insider.

On Daybreak yesterday [fri], Cowell’s former girlfriend and close friend Sinitta, admitted show bosses in crisis talks following her exit.

She said: ‘There is something going on. All I can say is Simon and Cheryl are very close and I believe they are in talks to try and sort something out. As soon as they agree on something then we will hear about it.

‘They are having private conversations. Simon really, really wanted Cheryl on the American show. He really fought to have her there.’

‘They are talking and they are working on something that they will agree on. Simon was 100 per cent behind Cheryl and I am sure that very, very soon, maybe today, we will find out what that decision will be.’