Simon Cowell was absent from his position on the judging panel after suffering a fall down the stairs leaving him hospitalised over the weekend.
When quizzed by the female talk show hosts about why Alesha Dixon replaced Simon and not Cheryl, Louis took aim at the Girls Aloud singer with a sly comment against her.
He praised Alesha who stepped in for Simon with just five hours notice beforehand.
Louis boasted: “She’s amazing, she’s so nice and she’s a team player.”
The panel probed him for more information as to why Alesha was there instead of Cheryl and the Irish judge played it down saying: “Well Alesha has done more auditions.”
The sly dig against Cheryl came from pointing out that Alesha is a “team player”.
The public were left baffled on Saturday as to why Cheryl hadn’t been asked to fill in for Simon considering she was there to support boyfriend Liam Payne for the show’s debut guest performance.
One Twitter user said: “Cheryl is literally sat in the audience right behind the Judges.. why doesn’t she just fill in for Simon?”
However, Cheryl’s fans were delighted when Dermot O’Leary joined her for a chat from her spot in the audience.
She said: “First of all I really miss you Simon, I know you’ll be watching at home. You’re very, very missed and we love you.”
The X Factor continues next Saturday at 7pm on ITV.
Daily Express :: TV and Radio Feed
