Simon Cowell: I’ll see you at boat camp

Judges set for dramatic summit on board mogul's yacht

 X Factor guru Simon Cowell's lavish yacht

A SENSATIONAL shake-up of this year’s X Factor will see the judges summoned by Simon Cowell to a dramatic summit in the Med — on his YACHT.

The show — out to end two years in which he has barely shown his face — will fly out Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger and Gary Barlow so he can discuss Boot Camp acts who will progress to the judges’ houses stage.
Multi-millionaire Cowell, 53, has agreed to take less of a back seat this time round despite still being busy with the American version of the franchise. In the States he appears as a judge, ruling him out of making a comeback as “Mr Nasty” on the UK panel.

Captain at the helm ... X Factor boss Simon Cowell

But by the time of the yacht summit — as the show here enters the Boot Camp stage — he will be on his hols.
The floating conference will see him tell the judges which categories of act they will mentor — a task he was criticised for performing in phone calls last year.
Last night a source confirmed: “Simon wanted to be involved on screen this year.
“We originally intended to do the Boot Camp stage in Miami and he would likely have had a much bigger role. But that plan didn’t work out so it will again take place at Wembley Arena next month. We decided it would add extra glamour — and not interrupt Simon’s holiday too much — if we took the mountain to Mohammed.

 Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne, Gary Barlow & Nicole Scherzinger

“The judges will get on a plane to his yacht wherever it is in the Med. He’ll chat through the acts and then dish out the categories.”
The tenth series of The X Factor hits screens at the end of August — and Cowell has also discussed popping up at the live ITV1 shows via satellite.