Role model: Naomi Campbell could take over from Cheryl Cole and give career advice to young hopefuls on the X Factor
Supermodel Naomi Campbell is being lined up to replace Cheryl Cole as a judge on The X Factor.
Show bosses want the 40-year-old model to join the programme if Ms Cole decides to leave for a job on Simon Cowell’s new American version of the series.
Miss Campbell would be one of two new faces to join the panel, alongside returning judges Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh, when the next series airs in August.
The Mail on Sunday understands ITV and production company talkbackThames are also looking for a male star with a global reach on the same scale as Miss Campbell to help shore up the panel, amid fears that the departure of Cole and Cowell will send ratings into freefall.
Channel executives are increasingly afraid that former Girls Aloud singer Ms Cole will be crossing the Atlantic along with Cowell to work on his US version of The X Factor.
Miss Campbell is seen as being of the calibre of celebrity needed to inject new glamour and maintain peak ratings.
The Streatham-born model has struck up an unlikely friendship with music mogul Cowell in recent years. She was spotted backstage at the X Factor studios in Wembley, North London, last year, where she revealed she is an avid viewer of the Saturday night series and spoke of her ‘love’ for the 51-year-old X Factor boss.
She said: ‘Simon is an institution. I love him. I watch The X Factor every week and it drives my boyfriend insane. I’m torn about who I want to win.’
Miss Campbell, who is dating Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin, was one of 400 guests at Cowell’s £1 million star-studded 50th birthday party in 2009.
However, critics of Miss Campbell will wonder how much authority she could bring to The X Factor, given her lack of success in the music industry. In 1995 she released her debut album as a singer, Baby Woman, which peaked at 75 in the UK charts despite an appearance on BBC 1’s Top Of The Pops to promote the first single from the record, Love And Tears.
She has also made minor appearances on tracks by American rapper Vanilla Ice and legendary US record producer Quincy Jones.
Her music video credits include playing the love interest to Michael Jackson in his 1991 song In The Closet, and lip-synching alongside fellow super¬models Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington in Freedom!, George Michael’s 1990 single.
ITV executives hope charity ambassador Ms Campbell will also add a new dimension by advising contestants on dealing with life in the public eye, but eyebrows will be raised at the suggestion of her providing guidance, given her notorious temper.In 2000 the model pleaded guilty in a Toronto court to assault on a personal assistant, and in 2006 she was found guilty of assaulting her housekeeper in New York. In 2008 she was sentenced to 200 hours’ community service for assaulting a police officer at Heathrow after an item of her luggage was lost.
ITV is keen to maintain The X Factor’s position as one of the most popular programmes on TV.
It has been among the three most-watched TV shows for the past four years, reaching a peak when 18 million watched Matt Cardle crowned winner in December.
Those ratings helped the channel earn more than £75 million from the sale of advertising slots during last year’s series.
An X Factor spokeswoman said: ‘No decisions have been made at this stage.’
A spokesman for Ms Campbell declined to comment.
Source:dailymail