It has now been confirmed that Cheryl Cole will be the replacement judge for Sharon Osbourne on the X Factor.

The 24-year-old Girls Aloud singer, will join Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue for the fifth series of the show on ITV, fuelling rumours that the girl band will split in the near future.

Cheryl recently entered the UK singles chart after recording her part on the music video for ‘Will.I.Am’ called ‘Heartbreaker’ and is said to be looking at a solo career.

Cheryl has said “I’m so excited to be part of such a great show and although it’s scary joining a huge programme like X -Factor, it’s a massive honour to be following in the footsteps of Sharon Osbourne. The rest of the girls have said they’re right behind me, which is really important for me as it will be on the other side of the fence this time. so whilst we get started on the next album, it will be brilliant to be a judge on X Factor.”

The auditions for the next series of X Factor began this week and should be aired later this summer.