X Factor’s Tulisa: I could never replace Cheryl Cole

Announced as the replacement for Cheryl Cole on hit ITV1 show X Factor, just before Chezza got humiliatingly booted off the US version, Tulisa was unwittingly caught up in the fall-out.

And the N-Dubz singer feared she might lose HER job before she’d even taken her seat on the judging panel.

Tulisa, 22, told me: “When it was all going on I tried to keep my head down but, yes, I was a little nervous she might get her old job – or my new one – back!

“Cheryl sent me some flowers on my first day, which was a pretty amazing gesture and totally unexpected.

“To be going through all that she is, well, that’s a very kind, thoughtful gesture.”

Tulisa made her X Factor debut earlier this month and is already a hit with fans, contestants and new BFF Louis Walsh. But she admits replacing Cheryl was the “most terrifying” thing she has ever done.

She continued: “Cheryl’s had a tough time and of course I feel bad for her. I was worried about being seen to be trying to fill Cheryl’s shoes, but I’m not. I’m just trying to being me.

“I was s******* it on my first day, absolutely terrified. I swear it was the most nervous I have ever been in my life.

“I’m loving it, though, more than I ever thought I would. I’m just trying to be me, to be honest and say what I think. I’m not going to take any s*** though – that’s just me. I speak my mind.

“But at the same time I am trying to make the auditionees feel OK, to give them some confidence and help them perform. If that means singing along with them from my seat, then that’s what I do.”

I caught up with Tulisa at Tuesday’s Glamour awards where a host of celebs – including Kim Kardashian, Michael McIntyre, Kristen Stewart, Fearne Cotton, Alexandra Burke and Rod Stewart – swamped her, wanting the low-down on X Factor.

But Tulisa seemed keener to set the record straight about claims she’s been warned by ITV bosses to watch her language.

She told me: “People said I was given a warning by producers and Simon Cowell not to swear and to rein in my behaviour. But that’s not the case – I know how to behave. Everyone thought I’d be the one being bleeped out, but actually it wasn’t me who swore first. That was someone else.”