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Dannii Minogue: Should she return to 'The X Factor'?
For and against - Digital Spy debates whether Dannii should return to the big X.
By Daniel Sperling and Alex Fletcher
Dannii Minogue is being hotly tipped by those in the know to be the replacement for Kelly Rowland on this year's X Factor.
Digital Spy readers have backed the Aussie for a comeback, but would it be a sensible decision for The Minogue to return to Simon Cowell's reality TV circus?
Two DS writers debate the pros and cons of Dannii coming back!
Why Dannii should do The X Factor [AF]
'Put The Needle on It', 'Love and Kisses', 'Touch Me Like That'. If we ever want to hear a follow-up record to any of these Dannii Minogue classics, then she must return to The X Factor.
The Aussie pop minx has remained silent on the music scene since 2007 and without a launch pad like The X Factor, it's unlikely any record label is going to take a risk on a 40-year-old whose last Top 10 single was eight years ago.
Dannii isn't the coolest popstar in the world. She isn't the funniest or wittiest person in the world. But she understands the crazy world of The X Factor.
Ken McKay/TalkbackThames
Big names and big credentials don't always make for great reality TV judges. These shows are about entertainment, dealing with dramas and putting up with Louis Walsh. They are also about creating high drama and living out a nationwide broadcast pantomime for six months of the year.
Minogue's comeback would be one of the biggest turnarounds in X Factor's history, which is no mean feat when you consider the pretzel-like twists that dominate Cowell's Saturday night production.
She's mentored two winners, her dynamic with Tulisa and Gary is an exciting unknown quantity and quite frankly, we missed Minogue's constant gripes about "being a bit pitchy" in last year's live shows.
Most important of all, the return of Dannii to the UK for the final ten weeks of the year is surely the only way we'll get to the bottom of this sordid Simon Cowell business.
Call us filthy gossip lovers if you like, but we want to hear The Minogue's version of events. How on Earth did she fall for the black loo roll-loving Mr Cowell? Get her back on The X Factor and we might just find out.
Why Dannii shouldn't return to The X Factor [DS]
With all the shenanigans last year about Cheryl Cole's troubled X Factor USA stint, Dannii's departure - announced in a suitably subdued statement and then barely spoken of again - was refreshingly scandal-free.
That's the thing about Dannii - she never really got involved in the grimy controversies that fuel The X Factor. Yes, there was the whole outing Danyl Johnson thing, but anyone could tell that was just a light-hearted comment that backfired. The 'female war' with Sharon Osbourne was pretty crazy, but it's hard to see her as anything other than the victim in that.
And we're not even going to bother mentioning her subsequent feud with the aforementioned Ms Cole - can we all agree that was a tabloid invention?
Anyway, the point is that Dannii doesn't really come across as someone who lives to be the centre of a scandal - which makes me wonder why she'd want to go back to The X Factor.
Getting her faced splashed all over the tabloids is not what Dannii needs right now as she tries to get over splitting up with the father of her child. We can already see them romantically linking her to every man she sets eyes on, or suggesting a feud with Kris Smith regardless of how amicable the separation must be, or starting up another girl war with Tulisa.
Since leaving The X Factor, Dannii's managed to be successful without being forced to deny endless rumours and lies about her personal life - surely it doesn't make sense to open herself up to all that at what must be one of the most vulnerable periods of her life.
And then there's Cowell. Now that their apparent fling is out in the open, there'd be a few pretty damaging and inescapable implications to her sudden reappearance on The X Factor. It's very easy to hold up that unimaginable tryst as the sole reason that she got a call back to the panel, overshadowing everything that made Dannii such a great judge in the first place.
On top of that, Dannii presumably doesn't want to be seen as grovelling to Cowell. When Cheryl was unceremoniously booted off The X Factor USA, there were a lot of people out there who took glee in seeing her sent back to Blighty. But when she refused to accept Cowell's mighty generous offers to return to our version of The X Factor, even her biggest haters had to begrudgingly admire her principles.
Dannii may have jumped from The X Factor, but there's been speculation that she was about to be pushed like Cole, so getting back into bed with Cowell could make her appear weak and be considered a major step back.
As much as it pains me to say it, and as unpopular as it will make me with the tons of you out there calling for her return, I don't want Dannii back on The X Factor. She was a fantastic judge, the Australian voice of reason amid the gruesome pantomime, but there's just too many ways that sitting on that panel could harm her. Let someone else deal with the drama, Dannii. You don't need it.
Should Dannii come back? Share your verdict below!
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