Fox's new reality music-competition series The X Factor has not even hit the air yet, and has already had to drop one of its judges, Cheryl Cole, and has replaced her with one of the hosts, Nicole Scherzinger.

Cheryl Cole was selected to join a panel of judges that includes Simon Cowell, former American Idol judge Paula Abdul and industry executive Antonio "L.A." Reid.

The website TMZ, which broke the story, attributed Cheryl Cole's ouster to tension with fellow judge Paula Abdul and concerns that her British accent would not be comprehensible to U.S. viewers.