Gary Barlow says he is “thrilled to be back and really looking forward to working with The X Factor team again.” But we had to pause when this emerged, because only earlier in the Sun, Simon Cowell had thought about getting rid and replacing him with a music executive. But the BBC reported Cowell saying: "It's great to be able to confirm our first judge for this year's show. Gary has earned his place and I'm excited to be working with him again." Simon Cowell? Manipulating the media to get maximum coverage for one of his TV mega-shows? Never.

Anyway, Barlow is the first star to be re-confirmed for the reality show, which returns later this year even though the first round of auditions has already started. We are obviously rooting for more Alexandra Burke on the next series.com/obv.

Analysts had suggested the show might be due for a shake-up after its ratings suffered in 2011. And definitely with the addition of BBC’s The Voice, the judges, whether new or old will have to ‘up-their-game’. After all when Little Mix wailed their version of Rice’s Cannonball back in 2011, people tuning in peaked at 15.5 million. This is around 4 million less than when Matt Cardle won in the previously. There is no accounting for taste, dear reader.

So we will see Barlow along with another three judges, whoever they maybe, when the program hits our screens again in late summer this year.