Nicole And Simon Lock Heads For X Factor Favouritism

The X Factor returns to our screens tonight and already the judges have come to blows, in the betting at least.

Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh are all back on the panel after taking a break from the show, alongside Simon Cowell. Nicole and Simon are head to head in the Winning Judge betting as joint 2/1 favourites.

Sharon Osbourne, who won once back in 2013 with Sam Bailey, is next in the betting at 3/1. Louis Walsh last saw success on the show in the second series in 2005 when Shayne Ward clinched the title and is the current outsider at 4/1 to end his long wait for the title of winning judge.

The Boys have been the most successful category on the show with four wins since the Boys category was introduced. However they currently share favouritism to be the winning category with the Girls, who have won the show twice and are the reigning champions, at 2/1 apiece.

A Group has yet to mirror the success of Little Mix, who won back in 2011 under judge Tulisa, but at 3/1 they are a middle of the road shot to reclaim the title this series.

Despite the success of the Overs category, having won the show on three occasions, they are bottom of the betting at 7/2 to win.

Simon is the most successful judge on the current panel, winning the show three times, but with the return of Nicole it doesn’t look like things will be smooth sailing for the music mogul.

Before the show gets underway we are unable to separate Simon and Nicole, forcing us to make them joint 2/1 favourites to have the winning act.

The Girls category are the reigning champions, after Louisa Johnson claimed the title last year, and have stiff competition in the Boys category, who are the giants in the X Factor winners history, with both the Boys and Girls tipped for success. We suspect however that after the first instalment of auditions this all could change quite quickly.

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