James Arthur wins X Factor as Cheryl Cole is said to be suing US version

(Getty Images)

Last night, James Arthur, the 23-year-old singer songwriter from Middlesbrough, was announced the winner of The X Factor 2012.

Due to a lack of interest around the show, critics are debating whether this series will be the last for the talent show. Simon Cowell is said to be facing a talk with ITV following the dire ratings - the audience for this Saturday night’s crucial show dropped to a seven-year low of 9.7 million.

The show had a bigger budget, but there are talks that the arena auditions will be axed in a re-vamp.

In other X Factor news, Cheryl Cole is also allegedly suing the US X Factor for £1.4million following her sacking from the show last year. The former judge was dropped after three weeks, but is said to be unhappy with the payment from the first series. According to The Sun, the singer claims they promised £1.1million for season one and £1.25million for season two, but was only paid her for the first series – and haven’t paid expenses for either, which were also promised.

Cole also recently revealed that she was annoyed when Cowell didn’t warn her that she was being dropped from the US show, and simply asked her if she wanted to return as a UK judge:

“This was irritating beyond belief. The only reason I was doing the American X Factor was because Simon more or less told me I was doing it.”

He’d warned her to be “more herself” and tone down the “crazy hair”, but was then told she was being dropped from the show by the X Factor’s executive producer:

“I can’t get over the fact that ‘big man’ Simon, the same guy that told me I had the job and told me ‘don’t wear that hair’ couldn’t tell me I didn’t have the job! The coward didn’t even have the guts to phone or send a message warning me what was coming.”