The X Factor frenzy hits London this week and Simon Cowell has reportedly decided to bring his panel back to basics for the event.

Regular judge Dannii Minogue is currently on maternity leave in Australia and though Simon had drafted in Geri Halliwell and Natalie Imburglia to replace her on earlier audition dates, this time he is thought to be keen to return to the three judge format.

So if you are trying out this Wednesday for the ITV TV show, you will face just Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole. An ITV spokesman told The Sun:

“The X Factor will start on ITV1 later in the year with London auditions first on screen and Simon, Cheryl and Louis as judges.”

We think the format will work well, after all it did for the first three series of the show. We will miss the big frock off though! But it was getting boring seeing Cheryl beat all the other stand ins hand down every time.