Gary Barlow has reportedly pulled a bit of a fast one on Simon Cowell.

It has been widely rumoured for weeks that the star would be assisted at his X Factor judges houses round by his old Take That bandmate Robbie Williams but it seems he has another plan up his sleeve.

The Sun has reported that instead of dad to be, Gary will instead be helped by none other than the beautiful Cheryl Cole.

The ‘Under The Sun’ hitmaker of course sensationally left the ITV show last year, when she landed a job on the US version. She was later sacked by Simon Cowell and said she would never, ever return.

It seems she may have had a change of heart because an insider told the newspaper yesterday that Cole is all ready to work with Gaz when he whittles down his final hopefuls this week.

They explained:

“Only Gary’s intimate inner circle know. He hasn’t even discussed it with Simon or ITV bosses. It’s been seriously top secret stuff.

“They’re all under the impression it’s going to be Robbie. No one even noticed the dates for the recording clashed with Robbie’s new solo tour.”

Cheryl and Gary are close pals of course, after they and a host of other famous famous climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief back in January 2011. They have remained in contact ever since and earlier this year performed together at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It is thought that they hatched their secret plan after that concert and the source claimed that Chez was only too happy to keep it all a secret fro, Simon. They added:

“She loved the mischief of it.”

Story developing…

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