Despite the rivalry between The X Factor and The Voice UK,  coach Will.i.am has – as we reported last week – been assisting X Factor USA judge Britney Spears to choose which acts she’ll take forward to the show’s live rounds…

And it seems that while he was in the States with Britney, he asked her if she would duet with former judge Cheryl Cole on a track he’s written for that purpose.

A show insider told TV Biz, “There were rumours earlier this summer that the pair were going to duet…

“But it wasn’t until this week that Britney and Will had the discussion.

“He’s been trying to get them together since before he came on board as Cheryl’s manager.

“He told Britney he was writing a great new track and wanted his ‘two favourite girls’ to record it together at his home studio.”

And in other news, Will’s fellow The Voice coach Jessie J is also straying into Simon Cowell territory since it’s been reported that she’s landed a role in a movie biopic of Britain’s Got Talent winner, Paul Potts.

The Daily Mirror reports that Jessie is set to play the role of the girlfriend of Paul’s best pal, who’s played by The Office star Mackenzie Crook, in ‘One Chance’ which will go on general release next year.

A source said, “Even though Jessie’s primarily a singer, she has a real talent for acting, too.

“Producers know she works great on camera from being on The Voice.

“The script looks set to be hilarious, too – it’s really cleverly written and has a typically British sense of humour to it.”
Filming for the biopic starts next month on location in and around Swansea and Port Talbot in South Wales.

The film charts Paul’s meteoric rise to fame during and after BGT from the humble beginnings of a job in Carphone Warehouse.