The X Factor 2016: Nicole Scherzinger awkwardly dodges question about Cheryl at launch

The pair have never appeared on the X Factor panel at the same time 
Jennifer Ruby26 August 2016
The Weekender

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Nicole Scherzinger didn’t seem too keen to talk about predecessor Cheryl at the X Factor launch.

The pop star and returning judge rather awkwardly dodged a question about the star on the red carpet on Thursday.

When asked by a reporter whether she got to meet Cheryl while filming the show this year, Scherzinger bizarrely responded by saying:

“I mean Mrs O [Sharon Osbourne] is the… I call her OG, is the original gangster.

“She's the mama. I'm really close with her. The people on the panel - that's my family.”

The persistent journalist added: “But you're not disappointed that you missed out on Cheryl then?”

After staring blankly at him, the reporter offered: “Cheryl Fernandez-Versini?”

Scherzinger then looked off camera at her publicist, who promptly said: “Okay, let’s move on.”

The X Factor 2016: judges and presenters

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While neither singer starred on the show at the same time, Cheryl detailed an ‘awkward’ encounter between the pair in her 2012 autobiography Cheryl: My Story.

The former Girls Aloud star recounted a moment in which Scherzinger sang her own song, Promise This, back to her.

“I swear to God, the woman sang the whole song, to my face. It was just so awkward,” she wrote.

Scherzinger later told Fabulous Magazine: “I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt and hope that she would only have spoken highly of me because I’ve not spoken poorly of her.

“The story is I met her once at The X Factor and I wanted to make her feel good. I said I’d heard her song on the radio and I think I sang the words "promise this". But I really don’t know any lyrics after that.

“And then that is made out to be something else and I don’t understand why. I don’t understand why anybody would do that. It’s been blown out of proportion and it’s silly.”

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