The X Factor producers have decided the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star will not return as a co-host for this fall's third season of the Fox reality singing competition, the New York Post reported Monday.
"They are asking [Mario Lopez] to come back, but not Khloe," an insider told the Post.
However, the changes failed to provide the ratings boostThe X Factor creator Simon Cowell was hoping for -- in fact, the second-season ratings were actually lower than those of Season 1 -- and Spears and fellow judge L.A. Reideach recently announced they will not return for the show's third edition.
According to the Post, Cheryl Cole is also in talks to return to the show as a third-season judge.
Cole had been part of The X Factor's original first-season judging panel but was abruptly fired and replaced with Scherzinger -- who was originally supposed to co-host the show with Jones -- midway through the season's open auditions.
Cowell later said he regretted the manner in with Cole was replaced.
"I had to apologize for the way it was handled," he said.
Cole, who had previously been a judge on the U.K.'s edition of The X Factor, sued the show for at least $2.3 million in December. According to the lawsuit, her original judging contract required she be paid a $2 million salary and additional expenses whether or not The X Factor chose to have her serve as a judge on the show's second season.
According to the Post, Cole's third-season return could be part of a settlement of the lawsuit and a plan to have a new judging panel "comprised of Cowell and three younger women."
(Photo credit Fox)
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