Simon Cowell was left torn after being asked to pick which member of One Direction would make the best X Factor judge.

The British boyband were pieced together on the UK version of the show back in 2010 and have also recently appeared on the Australian edition.

This year's series of X Factor USA meanwhile is set to hit screens this week after filming auditions over the past couple of months.

Speaking at the launch of the 2012 series, supremo Simon Cowell was posed with the question of which One Direction member would make the best judge. He replied:

"‘It would probably be between Louis [Tomlinson] and Harry [Styles]."

He then took a jibe at romance rumours between X Factor USA colleague Demi Lovato and One Direction's Niall Horan, adding:

"Demi, you would probably choose Niall."