‘The X Factor’ UK: Simon Cowell expected Cheryl Fernandez-Virsini to leave

The new season of “The X Factor” will premiere later this summer on ITV, and until that time, we imagine that there are many more rumors that we are going to get a chance to hear regarding the judging panel. There’s no confirmation as to who will be helping out on the show, but one of the big surprises was learning that Cheryl Fernandez-Virsini was going to be saying goodbye to the series.

Apparently, for Simon Cowell this wasn’t nearly as much of a surprise at all. Speaking in a new interview with the Mirror, he made it very clear due to changes in her personal life with Liam Payne and a desire to get back to music, he felt like she was going to say goodbye for the time being:

“I had a feeling she would leave. She is at a certain place in her life at the moment … I saw her and Liam a couple of weeks ago and they looked really happy. And I believed for a long while that her big thing was to make records. It’s a huge commitment to do one of these shows.”

Does this mean that she is permanently done with the franchise? Probably not given the fact that she has already left and came back once before. You never quite know precisely what sort of place someone is going to be in their career years down the road. You have to expect a certain degree of fluidity, but for now the show will simply move on and try to find their next judge.

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