X Factor king Simon Cowell is said to be adding a fifth judge to the X Factor panel to avoid any more voting confusion.
Cowell invited 20 fans, aged ten to 40, to brainstorm on how the show could improve. During the session, he asked what they would think if a weekly guest judge was added.
An X Factor source told The Sun: “The idea is 90 per cent a done deal. Simon is still figuring out exactly how it will work.
“On one level it could mean that if one of the judges opted out of voting it could still go to deadlock if the others were split 2-2. But the danger is if they all had voting rights and chose to vote it would never go to deadlock.
“Simon has always thought a guest judge on the live shows would bring some extra drama to proceedings. And he hopes they will shoot from the hip and put a rocket under the rest of the judges, who often bite their tongues.”
The alleged change comes in the wake of Sunday’s controversy when Cheryl Cole was “refusing point blank” to vote after two acts she mentored ended up in the bottom two.
Her refusal resulted in contestant Katie Waissel surviving a third sing-off, despite having the least public votes. Treyc Cohen was booted off instead.
The move triggered more than 2,000 complaints from viewers.
A spokesperson for the X Factor said that adding a fifth judge was “just speculation”.
“Simon has always held regular meetings with fans for years for TV and music to make sure he makes records they like,” a spokeswoman for Simon told The Sun.
