LOS ANGELES – Nicole Scherzinger "cried" when she was offered a judging role on 'The X Factor'.
The former Pussycat Dolls singer - who was a guest panellist on the UK series last year - was promoted from co-host to a panelist position on the new US version of the pop star search show following the departure of Cheryl Cole and admits she is "honored" to have the job.
She said: "It's an honor. I'm not going to lie, I cried when Simon told me."
Show chief Simon Cowell says he takes "full responsibility" for Cheryl's firing after just two weeks of auditions on the US series, saying he felt she seemed "bewildered" by life in America, which convinced him she'd be better off back in the UK, even though she eventually rejected the offer of getting her old job back on the British show.
In an interview airing on CNN tonight (20.09.11), he told talk show host Piers Morgan: "She looked a bit bewildered. I took the view along with a few other people that she would have been more comfortable back in the UK.
"That's what you have to do when you produce - you have to make decisions in the moment, and I take full responsibility for it."
Meanwhile, Simon feels he has "met his match" in fellow judge L.A Reid, though he admits he is finding the record executive difficult to work with.
He said: "I've kind of met my match with him ... he's very, very difficult to work with. Very petty."
The music mogul also described Nicole as "nuts" and likens working with former 'American Idol' colleague Paula Abdul again as being reunited with a lost dog.
He told talk show host Jay Leno: "Nicole is fantastically self-centered ... actually she's nuts. Every city she went to, she developed a different accent.
"Paula is like ... if you've lost your dog and it goes to the pound, and then the pound calls you to say, 'We found your dog, will you come to collect it?' Imagine that emotion when the dog sees its owner again."
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