http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...ing-panel.html

Oh my god. If this is true (which it definitely isn't considering whose news story this is)...I bet loads of people would watch the XF again. Gary and Robbie bantering would be the best, it's exactly what this show lacks while other shows like AI and The Voice have and use. Hope they get rid of Louis then!

PS - I beat the DS writers to it

no way! for sure the bantering wouldn't be as real as it is...

why not put a member from a rival band? or just bring back simon cowell

An article saying the same thing has been posted by XFactor on twitter so it's probably true that bosses want them, whether they'll both do it or not is another matter. I've just checked it's not the official XFactor twitter so it might not be true

That would be awful. Can Robbie even speak coherently these days?

It would have been decided ages ago who is judging, and i very much doubt this

Boring!

It's the sun, gotta be a loada balls

this story again,

I'm sure they ran this story last year too. They'll never drop 2 women purely because if the show hits the skids again the papers will still talk about what the female judges are wearing. They always try to go for different personalities too, this would be way too similar.

Old news. I think Sharon is in line to get the job.

they did i remember it i heard this story a few times, after Robbie joined Gary at judges house on his first year soon after the press started rolling this bull out and tried reporting it again last year,

Really? Apparently the producers don't really know until the last possible moment and that's usually in March or even right before the audition stages. Take this year, for example, if Nicole had been decided to join the panel much earlier then why have a different guest judge at every audition and then decide to let everyone know she was actually a judge at the end of the auditions?

Also Gary + Robbie would be great but because they're different! Gary is more serious but witty, whereas Robbie is light-hearted and does not take himself too seriously.

The other three had been approached a lot earlier. Last year they banked on Dannii returning so Kelly ruled herself out. Then Dannii pulled out with about a week left before filming began leaving them with noone. Apparently they didn't want Nicole and went for a few people before her, all of which failed. They'll be doing everything in their power to avoid a repeat of that for this year.

Gary, Robbie, Grace Jones and Nicole Scherzinger/Marina Diamandis would make a good panel

Dannii didn't pull out a week before. She left officially in 2011 but they didn't accept that and kept offering her the job til she would say yes. Which she refused hence their anger and erasing of her from the show.

Robbie said he never wanted to do it. It's the usual publicity stunt.

As people have said, freak occurance.

The idea people are only signed at the last minute is just to keep the hype up ... we are talking about household name celebrities, and a 4-5 month commitment. I can't imagine many have those kind of gaps in their schedules.

I think Robbie would be great though and it'd really bring Gary out of his shell

According to many reports she was in discussions for a return (and even hinted towards as much herself, all off the back of almost signing up for BGT) but decided against it in early June- ie days before filming began.

I think that they will certainly have an 'A', 'B' and possibly 'C' list by now.

No, no, no!

Ok except all of you have failed to grasp my message. I'm saying that they haven't already decided this month who they'll have for September. They usually finalize the contracts in March and not early Feb or Jan like someone was suggesting (that the producers have already have their judging line-up).

It was me that said it. They will know pretty much already who the very top options are, most places will be 100%decided, some spots could even be signed - yes there are occasionally last minute things but they don't come out of the blue.

Remember this is a near 6 month commitment. You can't just go to Robbie Williams and say "hey we need you for 6 months" a month or two before the auditions start. Household name celebs usually book about a year in advance sometimes and there will be signed agreements for events people cant get out of. IF it is him, he would have known about it and agreed to it AGES ago - in the case of Gary i'm sure he would have known whether he was returning or not even at the end of the last series. Busy guy.

Every year it says Robbie is joining the panel though and it never seems to happen.

As for Sharon the show has moved forward I don't think she will help the ratings personally.