X Factor will go ‘back to basics’ after all last year’s twists

The X Factor 2018 will go back to basics for its new series.

Host Dermot O’Leary has revealed the very first details about this year’s run.

Speaking at this week’s TRIC Awards, Dermot said he had recently been in a first meeting with show bosses.

“I had a meeting with the X Factor bosses last week,” he said. “We had a lot of twists in the last series but this time we’re going back to basics.”

“We’ve just got to make the best show we can possibly make,” he continued. “My whole thing about telly is you make the best show you want to make, and hopefully the people at home will buy into it. You can’t overthink it.”

Quizzed on who could be this year’s X Factor judges – with rumours of a return for Cheryl – Dermot replied: “I don’t know if she’s back.

“I know nothing, seriously.”

It was reported last month that Cheryl is set to start ‘final talks’ to return to The X Factor.

The former judge – who appeared on the show between 2008 and 2010 and then again in 2014 and 2015 – is rumoured for another comeback.

Speculation that Cheryl could be returning has been ongoing for months already, even if The X Factor won’t return to TV until the autumn.

As for what Cheryl’s potential return will mean for the current judges – Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger – remains to be seen.

Last year, Simon told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “In the past I’ve had to beg ­people to do the show, and it wasn’t always that easy. People would do it for a ­season, and say, ‘Right, I’m not coming back.’

“But now it’s easier to do the show, it’s much more fun. Maybe I’ll have five people on the panel.”