Lloyd Webber 'furious' as Nicole Scherzinger pulls out of Cats on Broadway

Andrew Lloyd Webber confirmed that former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger has pulled out of Cats on Broadway to return to The X Factor judging panel and admitted he is "furious" about it.

Lloyd Webber revealed that the singer pulled out of the production just before rehearsals began.

He told The Economist Radio: "A week before we were due to go into rehearsal for Cats on Broadway, which luckily I'm not producing, she calls me and says she's decided she wants to do X Factor, having agreed everything.

"I mean, she's crazy. But the American producers just took a view - 'Well, fine, we'll get somebody else', because she's actually not very well known in America, amazingly. She's much better known here."

The musical theatre supremo said Scherzinger's move had made him look foolish.

He said: "I'm furious because I really believe she's the most fantastically talented girl and I went out on a limb to get her for the London Palladium here, and it makes me look like an absolute twot with them all.

"But never mind, there'll be another girl on Broadway and Nicole will not get her Tony Award."

The news seemingly confirms that Scherzinger will rejoin The X Factor when the show returns to ITV later this year.

She will be joined by fellow judge Simon Cowell and it is rumoured the other seats will be filled by Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne.