Music mogul Simon Cowell has revealed that he thought Nicole Scherzinger and Cheryl Cole would clash if they were to sit behind the same judges table on 'The X Factor', so he's glad it worked out that both superstars could be involved at different times.

Speaking about the tension he thought would be obvious between the women, he explained: "I didn’t think the two of them would work well together."

He added that Scherzinger's departure leaves an empty seat and he's keen on getting Spice Girls star Mel B involved, but they only have a month to lock the plans down:

"I like Mel B. We’ve got about a month to decide and we’re meeting a lot of people. A lot of it actually depends on how much work they are willing to put in during the week."

Back in March, Cowell confessed that despite rumours suggesting Rihanna might be joining the show, he had never spoken to her about coming on board: "I never spoke to her, I've seen the papers, I never spoke to her! Probably (it would) be nice but I don't think she'd be available because of her commitments this year. I mean, I know her quite well, but no, I never spoke to her [about X Factor]."

Watch a joint interview with Cowell and Cole on the upcoming new season below: