Nicole Scherzinger can't have been having a dig at the woman she replaced, can she?
Nicole Scherzinger - reacted pretty strongly to some of the acts on last night's show
The newly-recruited X Factor judge, who famously replaced Cheryl Cole on the US version of the show - perhaps unknowingly - made a big at Cole's home town last night, declaring Newcastle a disappointment after she was failed to be impressed by any of the auditions.
"She concluded after she'd spent the day there, "I came from Los Angeles for this... I expected more from Newcastle. TFZ, it's a Talent-Free Zone."
This was after promising-looking Sophie Stokle had left the judges open-mouthed - and not in a good way - with her rendition of Jennifer Hudson's Love You I Do:
Earlier, the American star had admitted she couldn't always decipher the words, either... "I'm not going to lie, I'm having trouble understanding."
Fortunately, two acts did bring the judges to their feet - James Arthur, whose long-divorced parents had come together for the first time in years to support their promising son, performed an acoustic version of judge Tulisa's own song Young, and completely made it his own....
While Kye Sones, a chimney-sweeper by day, also impressed guest judge Rita Ora when he mashed her song RIP with Swedish House Mafia's Save the World Tonight...