Nicole Scherzinger has reportedly used her time on The X Factor well and managed to convince Simon Cowell to change the format slightly.

The Pussycat Doll singer is standing in for Cheryl Cole at the bootcamp stage of the show, as Chezza recovers from Malaria. As she perused the hopefuls, Nicole is said to have convinced Cowell to change the age limit of the older group of contestants from 25 to 28.

A show source told the Daily Star Sunday: “Nicole has taken her role very seriously. She’s very fiery and full of ideas.”

In another slight change, Simon has decided to increase the number of acts who make it through to Cheryl and Dannii’s judges houses from six to eight.

While Simon and Louis will still have six acts to choose from, the girls will each have a larger range since they missed out on so many original auditions and performances.

A source said: “As they weren’t at the auditions, it was thought only fair to give them more acts to choose from or they could moan they hadn’t a chance of winning.”