Inside the wild story of how a 22-year-old, ballsy Tulisa got on The X Factor judging panel

When Tulisa replaced Cheryl on The X Factor judging panel, she was not only extremely young and the youngest judge ever to get the job but also barely into her career. She hadn’t even released any solo music, and at that time being a judge on The X Factor was an instant catapulting into A-list fame. She’s had a fair few years out of the limelight, but with Tulisa being on I’m A Celeb and viewers obsessing over the blunt and genuine charm that made her such a personality in the first place – here’s the mad story of how a young and ballsy Tulisa became a judge on The X Factor way before I’m A Celeb.

Speaking on a podcast with Olivia Attwood, Tulisa opened up about how she manifested the job as a judge on The X Factor and fearlessly went for what she wanted. “I manifested it. I looked at that job and said I’m gonna have that job,” she said on the So Wrong It’s Right podcast. “That job is mine. Me, Gary [Barlow], Kelly [Rowland] and Louis [Walsh].” Tulisa said she got on best with Louis Walsh, because “He’s just giggly and funny and he saw how young I was and had that sense of wanting to protect me. He had my back.”

Olivia Attwood says “When I thought about how young you were and I thought about some clips I’ve seen of you panelling, and the way some of the other judges were with you it made me think, ‘why are you being so catty to a young girl’.” Infamously, Gary Barlow said to Tulisa in a live show “I don’t know what’s offended me more, your comments or your fag ash breath.”

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@happyplaceofficial “Things got nasty” @tulisa_contostavlos shares her X Factor experience #tulisa #tulisacontostavlos #xfactor #thexfactor ♬ original sound – Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place

Tulisa continued “You have to imagine as well, when I said to myself ‘I’m gonna get this job’ and I got to the point where I’m sat in Simon Cowell’s house saying to him ‘If you don’t hire me it’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your life’, sparking up a fag as well.

“But I knew he was gonna like that. I was 22. I was the youngest judge ever at that time. He hired me on the spot. I walked out of that house like ‘f*ck, I really need to do this.”

She was an iconic judge on The X Factor, and now Tulisa is an iconic I’m A Celeb campmate. If there wasn’t a Tulisa, there wouldn’t be a Little Mix! Queen shit.

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