Simon: "I thought Cheryl was bright, cute and ambitious"

In what might possibly be the most protracted period of waiting for confirmation ever, Simon's gone and as good as admitted that Cheryl will be a judge on US X Factor. Even better though, he's said some genuinely touching things about Cheryl, sharing his admiration for the girl we've all fallen in love with.

Speaking about the judging role in an interview with Deadline, he said: "I never think about it as an American or British audience. 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 UK X Factor. I thought she was bright, cute, knew what she was talking about, ambitious..."

Awwww!

Simon continued: "And you meet someone special a few times in your life... and this girl is special. She's just got a great ability to communicate. She's a great judge. She's smart. It's just a hunch."

How adorable!

"If people take to her like the British public did, I think she's going to do really well in America. And Fox was desperate to hire her."

It's really moving to see Simon speak so candidly about Cheryl like this - on the UK live shows we often only got their feisty banter and Simon's usual hard-man act, so moments of open emotion like this are really sweet. He clearly believes a lot in her potential for winning over American audiences in the same way she did over here, and you know what, I think she's more than got it in her to do it. Exciting times indeed!

The power of US X Factor - Would it work for Cher?

Things are still very hush-hush about the US Factor. We don't know the full line-up of judges, we don't know the presenters, we don't even know the format. Will it be similar to the UK version or try to do something bold and new? With rumours flying left, right and centre it's hard to know what to trust, but as the days pass by, we are surely drawing closer and closer to the inevitable confirmation of everything. The show must go on after all.

Which draws us to another inevitability. As seen in the UK version of the show, Simon was always keen on getting back old contestants - now signed to his record label - to perform on the show - it was an instant boost for their sales. It's his show after all, he has the power to do this.

So imagine now, if he were to do the same on the US version of the show. With a potentially immense audience, the prospect for boosted sales for Simon's UK-based artists is immense. An artist does well on the UK show? Bring them over to America and voila, an instant platform for them to perform on.

Today, we hear reports of X Factor darling Cher Lloyd being lined up to appear on the American show. How would she go down over there? It's impossible to know. On one hand she's very distinctly British, but equally, with her rapping and love of American artists like Nicki Minaj, she could be a surprise success. Let's not forget the mega-popularity of her debut Turn My Swag On performance at the UK auditions. Uploaded on YouTube, the clip was already being shared around the world. The US X Factor would see this same platform for exposure, but on a larger and far more concentrated level.