Louis Walsh will return to X Factor this weekend after grieving the loss of close friend Stephen Gately, according to Simon Cowell's sidekick Sinitta.

The Irish pop mogul missed Sunday's results show to fly to Majorca following the death of the Boyzone singer, who Louis counted as a close friend.

Back on duty: Louis Walsh will return as an X Factor judge on Saturday

But Sinitta expects he won't let down his two remaining acts — John and Edward and Miss Frank — and will be back to lead them into Saturday's live show. Speaking at the Yahoo! Yodel launch in Covent Garden today, she said: “It was very hard on Sunday. It was very quiet. People were worried about Louis and sad about Stephen.

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“There was no way he could have come, but the show had to go on. I spoke to Louis on Sunday night. He was still very much trying to come to terms with this. It's going to be hard. He knew and mentored Stephen from when he was a young boy. They were great friends.”

About Louis' X Factor acts, she said: “They are really going to prop him up but it will be very hard for him.”

Meanwhile, Cheryl Cole looked like she'd been doing a spot of decorating in her jeans as she turned up to the Radio 1 studios this morning.

Painted lady: Cheryl Cole outside Radio 1 studios this morning

She was put on the spot by Comedy Dave on Chris Moyles' breakfast show, when he accused Alexandra Burke of miming on Sunday's results show. When pressed, Cheryl said: “So maybe there was parts of it that she had to [mime]. Humanly, you go and run on a treadmill and try and sing a song, it's not possible.”

Aw, we don't know, Cheryl. If 66-year-old Sir Mick Jagger can manage it, we're sure 21-year-old Alex could at least try.