Demi Lovato back for X Factor, new judges yet to be announced

Creator Simon Cowell is happy she is back.

LOS ANGELES: Singer Demi Lovato will return as a judge on TV contest The X Factor for a second year, broadcaster Fox announced on Thursday, but there was no word on two more open positions on the celebrity panel.

The 20-year-old former Disney Channel star will be back in her seat when the show returns in the fall of 2013 along with creator Simon Cowell.

“I couldn’t be happier that Demi wants to come back this year,” Cowell said in a statement.

“She’s a superstar in her own right and was a fantastic mentor last year. Even though she can be really, really annoying — I truly enjoyed working with her and so did the artists.”

X Factor producers however, have yet to announce replacements for departing judges Britney Spears and record producer Antonio “LA” Reid, who quit at the end of the show’s second season in December.

“There are going to be four judges,” a source close to the show said on Thursday, but gave no details on who they might be or when the two new names would be announced.

Recent speculation on possible new judges for the US version of the show have included singers Katy Perry, John Mayer, Pink and Ne-Yo.

Open auditions for singers hoping for a spot on the third season of X Factor are underway in cities across the United States. Auditions before the judges are expected to start in late May or early June.

Audiences for X Factor slumped in 2012, losing about three million viewers from its first season despite the hiring of Spears for a reported $15 million salary.

The show is just one of a plethora of singing and talent shows on US television, including Fox television’s long-running American Idol, which has also seen a drop in viewers despite new judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj, and NBC rivals The Voice and America’s Got Talent.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2013.                      

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