COLE-D MINE

Cheryl Cole gets huge rise...Dannii Minogue gets huge snub

X FACTOR boss Simon Cowell is set to give pregnant Dannii Minogue a nasty bump - by SLASHING her pay by £300,000 and handing rival judge Cheryl Cole a £700,000 RISE.


It means Cheryl would earn £1.7million for the next series while Dannii gets just £700,000.


Last year the two girls and fellow judge Louis Walsh were all paid the same - £1million each.


But we can reveal that Cowell wanted to SACK Aussie star Dannii and had to relent because of her popularity and pregnancy.


Simon's brother and confidante Tony told us: "He's always the first person who wants to change it up. That's part of his genius. He doesn't let a show get stale.
Backlash

"I think he did want to change the panel this year. But I think he might have mis-read the appeal and popularity of Dannii."


And an X Factor source admitted Cowell felt pressured into re-signing Dannii.


"Simon simply didn't realise how popular Dannii had become with viewers since last year's series," the insider said.


"Even when she became pregnant, he wanted to find a way to ease her into a lesser role on the show.


"But Dannii will only come back if she's on the judging panel, and Simon knew it would be impossible to remove a pregnant woman. There would have been a huge backlash." In February the BBC sparked a row when it dropped pregnant Denise Van Outen from the judging panel of its talent show Over The Rainbow.

Last week we revealed how Dannii, 38, was poised to return to X Factor after positive talks - despite being due to give birth during the series.


She is set to miss the audition and bootcamp stages as she'll be in Australia on maternity leave - but will return to judge the finalists. It means she would be working for around four months - at a rate of £175,000 a month.


Cheryl, 26, would be working the full six months, for £283,333 a month. And Louis is in line to get a total £1.6million - £600,000 more than last year but £100,000 less than Cheryl.


Simon gets £6million a year for judging and producing X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.


The other three judges' contracts are now being finalised, and Cheryl is in the last stages of negotiations, an ITV source revealed. It would be her third series - and she'll be hoping for a third win after mentoring the most recent champs Joe McElderry and Alexandra Burke.


Our insider told us: "Signing Cheryl is our absolute priority.


"She's a huge part of the show and she doesn't need to do it now her solo singing career is so successful. She deserved to be rewarded and we needed to make sure she definitely re-signed. If we lost viewers it would cost us a lot of money."