Dannii Minogue has reportedly been banned from having her sister Kylie assist her during judges houses rounds of the X Factor.

The new mum had wanted her pop star sister to help her choose three finalists for this year’s series which starts on Saturday evening. However, bosses are said to be refusing because they don’t want to pay the cost of Kylie’s flight to Australia, where Dannii is currently enjoying maternity leave with her partner Kris Smith and their baby Ethan.

Despite agreeing to fly eight X factor finalists to Danni in Melbourne, producers have put their foot down and told her to choose an assistant already in Australia, or to shell out for Kylie’s flight herself.

A source told The Daily Star newspaper:

“Dannii and Kylie are shell-shocked. Last year Kylie helped her out and they were whisked off to Dubai for judges’ homes. Now someone has cut the purse strings.

“Dannii’s been told to find someone closer to home. So it is either Natalie Imbruglia or Dame Edna!”

All this penny pinching and just last week it was revealed that ITV had awarded Simon Cowell £33 million (up £4 million on ast year’s budget) so that he could make the show bigger and better than ever. Seems a bit of a contradiction to us!