Cheryl hits back at Louis Walsh after he calls her 'lazy and irrelevant'

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, has hit back at Louis Walsh after he sensationally branded his co-judge as “lazy” and “irrelevant”.

In an explosive heat magazine interview, acid-tongued Louis pulled no punches as he stuck the boot into Cheryl.

“Cheryl wasn’t great last year. She’s sometimes lazy and lacks energy,” Louis ranted to heat.

“She needs to give more, she can give so much more. She’s irrelevant these days. I know people say the same about me, but apart from anything, I am fun and I have a rapport with Simon (Cowell).

"Personally I'd rather have Mel B on the panel, I love her - but that's not going to happen. I'd like to see Nicole Scherzinger back and I reckon Simon would, too, but I don't suppose Cheryl would work with her.

"If I had my dream girl to pick for that panel, it would be Sharon Osbourne, because she's fun. She knows her stuff and she's not frightened to say it," he added.

Louis’ comments didn’t go unnoticed by Cheryl, who took to Twitter to aim some vitriol at Louis calling him “obsessed” and hinting that he is clueless on the show.

She told her 5.5million followers: "I am beginning to wonder if Louis has some kind of an obsession with me... I mean this is every year whether I am or am not a part of the show.

"This is the same man asking me what he should say to contestants on our way to the stage bc 'he doesn't know'."

Despite newspaper reports to the contrary, Louis Walsh has insisted that he hasn’t been sacked from The X Factor by Simon Cowell.

“I was never sacked, that’s the truth,” he tells heat.

You can read the full Louis Walsh interview in this week’s edition of heat magazine, which is on sale now!