Kate Thornton is "devastated" that she has been axed from The X Factor, says her former colleague Louis Walsh.

Simon Cowell had reportedly told the 34-year-old presenter that she would be asked to present the next series of the TV singing contest.

A source told Heat: "She couldn't believe it - she was mortified. She wasn't expecting it at all because she really believed Simon when he told her that her job was safe."

Louis Walsh, who has also been axed from The X Factor, told the magazine: "She literally had no idea they were going to drop her, and she's devastated. After Kate found out, she called me. We've spoken nearly a dozen times and she is upset.

"It's a nasty shock. I don't think people really appreciate quite how much she used to do behind the scenes. This was her baby, her show, and now she is going to have to watch someone else do it."

Digitalspy.co.uk

THE SEX FACTOR
Couple offer £50k for Cowell to judge their lovemaking

A COUPLE offered Simon Cowell £50,000 to watch them make love and give them his opinion.

The middle-aged Americans wanted TV's Mr Nasty to give an X-rated X Factor-style assessment of their performance in the sack.

Cowell revealed yesterday that he was made the bizarre offer by a respectable-looking man as he dined at a Hollywood restaurant.

American Idol, the US version of The X Factor, shot Cowell to star-dom in the States, and he found himself being asked if he "did things for money".

Cowell told a US television show: "I stupidly turned it down.

"I said it depends on how much and he said he wanted me to come to his house and comment on him and his wife in bed.

"They were both in their fifties. He was going to pay me £50,000 for it."

Yesterday, X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne claimed Cowell did not have the guts to sack judge Louis Walsh and Kate Thornton - and got a producer from the show to do his dirty work.

Osbourne said: "I was completely shocked. It was a harsh and unfair thing to do.

"The very least he could have done is to have told Louis and Kate to their faces, rather than pretend it was all down to the producers."

Walsh and Thornton were given the boot by X Factor producer Richard Holloway last week.

Cowell insists ITV were behind the sackings.

And the fall-out between Cowell andWalsh will be used to inspire a new ITV show.

Rock Rivals will tell the tale of two judges on a TV talent show whose marriage falls apart.