Simon Cowell must have been impressed with what Rita Ora had to offer at the X Factor auditions, because he truly bent backwards to land her as a guest judge this week.

The ‘RIP’ hitmaker was booked for a gig in Coventry, but the X Factor bosses were so keen to have her back for a second day of tryouts, that they booked her a private jet to take her to Coventry and back again.

The 21 year old singer songwriter joined the panel of the ITV show this week, as hopefuls tried out in London’s O2 Arena and insiders said she fitted in well with Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh and Tulisa Contostavlos.

She first presided over proceedings on Monday but Simon was so desperate to have her back on Tuesday that he booked her for the morning session and then flew her to Coventry in the private aircraft, when Leona Lewis took her spot in the afternoon.

A source told The Mirror:

“Simon and the show’s producers were really impressed by Rita. She was warm and funny, and gave everybody constructive criticism.

“She did get laughed at for asking identical twins if they were the same age but the audience responded really well to her.”

“When they asked her to stay another day, they knew it would mean she had to make a quick jaunt to the Coldplay gig.

“She had been planning to get a helicopter but X Factor chartered her the jet as a thank-you.”

Meanwhile, it wounds like Rita was no pushover during her time on the show and we revealed this morning that she – along with Tulisa and Gary – crushed the dreams of at least one hopeful yesterday.

It was reported that all three judges refused glamour model Bianca Gascoigne a place in the bootcamp stages, because her vocals were not strong enough.

Were you at the auditions yesterday? How do you think Rita did? Would you like to see her replacing Kelly Rowland on a full time basis? Leave your comments below…