Cheryl Cole joins Gary Barlow at X Factor judges' houses

The contestants in Gary Barlow's category for the
X Factor this year may have been a bit disappointed to discover they were going to a big house in Northamptonshire rather than abroad for the judges' houses stage of the competition. However, they ended up getting quite a special treat as the Take That singer had much-missed former X Factor judge Cheryl Cole on hand to assist him.

It has become a tradition for each judge to invite a celebrity friend to help them make the important decision about who they should take through to the live finals. Last year Gary invited his Take That bandmate Robbie Williams to join him but this year it was his Royal Jubilee Concert duet-partner Cheryl. Over the next few days he and Cole will have to choose three acts to go through and send the rest of the contestants home.

Cheryl used her Twitter account to make sure her fans knew her return to the X Factor was to support her friend Gary, not her former boss Simon Cowell who sacked her from the U.S. version of the show. Cheryl responded to a fan asking if she was really going to appear by saying "It's true, anything for @GBarlowOfficial" but failed to respond to Simon's "Welcome back Cheryl" tweet.

Image courtesy of WENN.com.

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