Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones will not be returning to The X Factor.
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The network reportedly confirmed The X Factor exits on Monday evening shortly after Jones announced his departure via Twitter.
"I wont be hosting next seasons [The X Factor] which is a shame but I cant complain as I've had a great time. Good luck to everyone on the show," Jones tweeted.
Reports that The X Factor was considering axing Jones or giving him a new co-host had first surfaced in October shortly after the show's debut.
Last month, The X Factor had denied reports that Jones was unlikely to return to the show's second season.
However, Fox had subsequently acknowledged Jones wasn't a lock to return and The X Factor creator Simon Cowell had also suggested Jones would not be reprising his hosting role while attending Britain's Got Talent auditions in the U.K. last week.
Similar to Jones' departure, Scherzinger's exit also isn't a surprise given her judging performance had been heavily criticized during The X Factor's first season -- particularly following her decision to avoid her judging responsibility and deliberately force a judging deadlock that resulted in the unintended elimination of 13-year-old contestant Rachel Crow during the competition's Top 5 results show.
However, Scherzinger -- who was originally brought on board to serve as The X Factor's co-host alongside Jones but became a judge following Cowell's decision to drop original judge Cheryl Cole midway through the first season's open auditions -- was the one who "decided not to come back," according to E! News.
"She wants to focus on her music career. She's spoken to Simon [Cowell] and he's given her his blessing," a source told E! News.
"X Factor took a lot more of her time than she ever expected," the source said. "She didn't have any time really to work on her music. She was doing X Factor six days a week."
About The Author: Steven Rogers
