Supermodel Naomi Campbell is being lined up to replace Cheryl Cole as a judge on The X Factor.
Show bosses want the 40-year-old model to join the programme if Cole decides to leave for a job on Simon Cowell's new American version of the series.
Campbell would be one of two new faces to join the panel, alongside returning judges Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh, when the next series airs in August. The Mail on Sunday understands ITV and production company talkbackThames are also looking for a male star with a global reach on the same scale as Campbell to help shore up the panel, amid fears that the departure of Cole and Cowell will send ratings into freefall. Campbell is seen as being of the calibre of celebrity needed to inject new glamour and maintain peak ratings.
The model has struck up an unlikely friendship with music mogul Cowell in recent years. She was spotted backstage at the X Factor studios last year, where she revealed she is an avid viewer of the series.
She said: "Simon is an institution. I love him. I watch The X Factor every week and it drives my boyfriend insane. I'm torn about who I want to win."
An X Factor spokeswoman said: "No decisions have been made at this stage."
A spokesman for Campbell declined to comment.
Show bosses want the 40-year-old model to join the programme if Cole decides to leave for a job on Simon Cowell's new American version of the series.
Campbell would be one of two new faces to join the panel, alongside returning judges Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh, when the next series airs in August. The Mail on Sunday understands ITV and production company talkbackThames are also looking for a male star with a global reach on the same scale as Campbell to help shore up the panel, amid fears that the departure of Cole and Cowell will send ratings into freefall. Campbell is seen as being of the calibre of celebrity needed to inject new glamour and maintain peak ratings.
The model has struck up an unlikely friendship with music mogul Cowell in recent years. She was spotted backstage at the X Factor studios last year, where she revealed she is an avid viewer of the series.
She said: "Simon is an institution. I love him. I watch The X Factor every week and it drives my boyfriend insane. I'm torn about who I want to win."
An X Factor spokeswoman said: "No decisions have been made at this stage."
A spokesman for Campbell declined to comment.
