Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole arrived in the city for the first round of auditions filmed at Manchester Central.

Although the judges are based in the hotel next door to the former G-Mex, they were chauffeur-driven on the journey which would have taken just seconds on foot.

Perhaps the heavy downpours had something to do with their mini-roadtrip.

And the fact that there were some expertly-coiffured hairdos to protect, including Aussie singer Dannii's new fringed bob that she unveiled for the first time.

Dannii looked every inch the retro-chick with her angular hairdo, matched by a monochrome outfit and one-shoulder slouch top. Despite the rain, she happily paused to sign a workman's hard hat on her way to the first day of auditions.

Her fellow popstar judge, Girls Aloud star Cheryl, went for girly glamour, wearing a tiny mini-skirt, white pinstriped shirt and sky-high platform heels.

The glamorous girls appear to have become bosom buddies and even left the Radisson Edwardian Hotel hand-in-hand to head to the auditions.

This year, for the first time, the auditions of the pop wannabees will be held in front of a live audience. Show boss Cowell brought in the format change as he felt contestants would get `an added boost with public support'.

Hopefuls had to sing in front of more than 1,000 members of the public who queued for hours to get a seat.

But many were left disappointed when seats were filled so fast that some audience ticket holders were turned away. They included 16-year-olds Amy Farmer, Virupa Ramachandran, Daniella Somers and Rakhee Parmar who had travelled from Leeds especially to see their favourite show.

But it was not just wannabee singers being judged at auditions which continue today and tomorrow.

Cheryl was also being scrutinised by American TV bosses who are lining her up to host a US version of The X Factor. Rumour has it that executives from the States have flown in to watch Cheryl in action over the weekend.


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