Simon Cowell Wants Paula Adbul Back

With the debut of the U.S. incarnation of Simon Cowell’s The X Factor only a few months away, the deadline for Cowell to finalize his judges panel is fast approaching. L.A. Reid is already lined up, but there are still two slots to fill—and who better to take one spot than Paula Abdul?

In an interview with Deadline, Cowell revealed that he was in talks with Abdul as well as British singer Cheryl Cole, who was a judge on the show in the U.K.

“I’ve always wanted Paula,” he said. “Always been very vocal about that. I missed her the second she left the show. Always loved working with her even though she can be a pain. And I’ve been consistent about this. I don’t know what it is about her, but I’ve always clicked with her.”

Abdul, who departed from American Idol and ended up hosting the short-lived Live to Dance, has apparently always been a close friend of Cowell’s despite their differences on camera. Cheryl Cole, on the other hand, may be relatively unknown to U.S. audiences, her fame growing in the U.K. after winning Popstars the Rivals, becoming part of the group Girls Aloud and marrying footballer Ashley Cole.

“I never think about it as an American or British audience,” Cowell said. “I genuinely don’t. I think that’s what’s happened on a lot of these shows now is it’s almost like you’ve got to hire well known celebrities to be a judge. And with Cheryl, when I hired her initially, I’d only met her literally once when I offered her the job on [British] X Factor. I thought she was bright, cute, knew what she was talking about, ambitious.”

Cowell also stated that Fox was “desperate” to have Cole on board, and though she’s unconfirmed, Reid let it slip to the U.K. paper The Sun that Cole would appear—both he and Cowell have retracted the statement, but she seems to be the only other celebrity on their radar at the moment as Cowell also shot down rumors of talks with Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Cee Lo Green and Gloria Estefan. Still, audiences would probably celebrate Abdul joining the team more than Cole.

“We’ve agreed that we would meet as many people as possible,” Cowell said of choosing a judge, “and now we’re reaching the deadline we’ve got to make the decision soon. But I think [Abdul]’s got a really good shot.”

The X Factor will debut this fall on Fox. New York City auditions were held April 13.

This article was originally published on AllMediaNY.com