As expected, bosses of ITV's X Factor have announced that Kate Thornton will not present the next series. Perhaps more surprisingly (though he did keep threatening to quit last series, so perhaps not) Louis Walsh will no longer sit on the judging panel either, though he will still be involved in the management of winning artists. Two new judges will join Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell on the judging panel, making a panel of four. Each judge will again take on a different category of artists, with the under 25s being split between boys and girls meaning there will be enough categories for the increased number of judges (and more contestants from the more bankable under 25s solo artists category). The minimum age for contestants will also be dropped, to 14.
Confirming the changes, ITV's Paul Jackson said: "To keep the show in its number one spot, we are always looking at ways of making the format as fresh and exciting as ever and having an extra judge and an additional category will give it a whole new dimension. We have to keep evolving and I'm really excited about series four".
Elsewhere in pop reality show news, gossipers are saying that Simon Fuller is in talks with Channel Five regarding a relaunch of Pop Idol. As I remember it, Fuller was prevented from taking the show to another network for a time because ITV had the exclusive rights to it, even though they'd dropped it in favour of X-Factor. But reports suggest Fuller will soon be free to take the show elsewhere, and plans to compete with Simon Cowell's Pop Idol rip off are now afoot.