Cheryl Fernandez-Versini is "really comfortable" with Rita Ora.
Simon Cowell has revealed the two girls on the ‘X Factor’ judging panel have become close friends since filming began for the ITV show.
He said: "It’s been amazing. They met first of all just the three of them with a few producers. Then I invited them over to my house one evening.
"I didn’t really know Rita to begin with, but by the second or third meeting I thought, ‘Actually you’re really funny and you’re someone who isn’t threatened by another girl but likes girls’.
"I think Cheryl feels really comfortable with Rita. They’ve just gradually started to create a friendship."
And the 55-year-old media mogul – who also sits on the panel alongside BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw – has insisted he had no qualms about "tempting" the 24-year-old beauty back onto the talent show from rival BBC One programme ‘The Voice’.
He added to The Sun newspaper: "With Rita I was a bit p***ed, to be honest with you. She was on ‘The Voice’ but we’d put her on ‘X Factor’ first.
"I thought they’d kind of nicked her from us so I decided I was going to try and tempt her back. If someone’s on your show, you don’t own them for life. They are allowed to go elsewhere."
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini ‘really comfortable’ with Rita Ora
