X-Factor

Britney Spears will NOT be a judge on "X Factor" next season -- and it's entirely her doing ... TMZ has learned.

We have unimpeachable sources who tell us Britney loves the show but wants to focus on her music ... which she is doing right now. Britney is in the studio recording her 8th album, with some help from Will.i.am and producer Hit-Boy, the brains behind Kanye and Jay-Z's "N****s in Paris."

One of our sources tells us ... "Britney loves Simon, she likes Demi Lovato but her thing is music."

We're told after she completes the album, Britney is seriously considering going on tour again.

Walking away from $15 mil ...Yeah, she's that rich.

Demi Lovato took a page out of Britney Spears' down-home playbook, and spent Christmas day stuffing her face in an unexpected, but awesome, place -- the International House of Pancakes!

Demi hit up an IHOP in Texas with her family for dinner on Tuesday, and the 'X Factor' judge's ruling was -- AWESOME! She tweeted ... "Literally the best Christmas I've ever had."

The only person more excited than Demi about the meal -- a rep for IHOP who tells TMZ, "We are thrilled that Ms. Lovato came to IHOP for her Christmas Dinner and we look forward to her visiting us throughout the year."

Simon Cowell has TWENTY THOUSAND reasons to cry over Thursday night's "X Factor" results show -- and it's all thanks to a rich-person bet he made with L.A. Reid.

TMZ has learned ... Simon and L.A. made a wager at the beginning of the season ... and if either judge had a contestant win the whole shebang ... the losing judge would cough up $20k.

So when L.A.'s contestant Tate Stevens took home the crown ... he grew just a tiny bit richer than he already is. And since Simon's no sore loser, we're told he plans on cutting the check ASAP.

Simon Cowell -- who normally says exactly what's on his mind -- was holding back BIG TIME on the subject of LeAnn Rimes last night ... 'cause while he insisted the singer was sober, he DEFINITELY couldn't say it with a straight face.

Simon was outside Mixology at The Grove in L.A. last night, when we asked about LeAnn's bizarre duet with Carly Rose Sonenclar on "X Factor" this week ... the one that left people thinking she was hammered.

Simon told us he thought the performance was "interesting" ... and he didn't believe LeAnn was on drugs or alcohol at the time. Buuut ... the giant poop-eating grin on his face makes it hard to believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Still, Simon says ... LeAnn is welcome back to the show any time she wants.

Carly Rose Sonenclar's family is royally pissed off at LeAnn Rimes for -- as they put it -- trashing their daughter's "X Factor" performance Wednesday night.

Sources connected with the family tell us ... the 13-year-old girl's mother is livid that Rimes would dare say Carly Rose was "nervous and had trouble hitting the right notes" when she sang "How Do I Live."

As you know ... Carly Rose did a duet of the song with Rimes on the show. People on social media went crazy after the performance, claiming Rimes was drunk.

TMZ broke the story ... Rimes insists she was sober, but says if things were awkward, it was only because, "I was trying to help this 13-year-old girl who was having some trouble with the song." Rimes later claimed she never gave a quote, but we can tell you ... her rep specifically gave us the quote and told us we could use it.

Someone in LeAnn Rimes' camp is LYING ... because the singer is now saying she never gave a statement to TMZ about her controversial performance on "X Factor."

Here's the deal -- after reports surfaced that LeAnn may have been wasted during her performance with 13-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar, we called Rimes' rep for comment.

The rep gave us a quote that we were told we could put on TMZ.com and attribute to LeAnn Rimes. We were told LeAnn was NOT impaired and if there was any awkwardness it was only because "I was trying to help this 13-year-old girl who was having some trouble with the song."

But moments ago, Rimes posted a message on her Twitter page saying she has NOT given the media a quote -- noting, "It's a shame that gossip and lies are overshadowing the performance of Carly."

She added, "It was an amazing opportunity to share this experience with Carly and I know I'll be watching for her to win tonight."

LeAnn Rimes tells TMZ ... she was NOT drunk when she performed on "X Factor" Wednesday night, contrary to LOTS of speculation.

LeAnn says she was in no way impaired, and any awkwardness was because "I was trying to help this 13-year-old girl who was having some trouble with the song."

LeAnn believes Carly Rose Sonenclar was very nervous and had difficulty with some of the notes and she was doing her best to help her get through it.

LeAnn's lawyer, Larry Stein, who spoke with LeAnn a few minutes ago, tells TMZ "LeAnn was not performing the way she would normally perform, because she was on stage with a young girl."

LeAnn says she does not understand why people believe she was drunk. Stein has a theory: "There have been a lot of untrue things said by others and it feeds into this sort of thing."

At one point, LeAnn clutched Carly Rose, arguably to maintain her balance.

Cheryl Cole says she signed a VERY lucrative deal to be a judge on "X Factor" back in 2011 ... and even though producers fired her ass before Season 1 ever got off the ground, she wants her money ... more than $2 MILLION ... this according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ.

Cole -- a British pop star -- says she signed a "Pay or Play" contract with Blue Orbit Productions that guaranteed her $1.8 million for Season 1 ... and $2 million for Season 2 ... even if she never appeared on the show.

Cole says producers also agreed to pay her a $100k wardrobe allowance for each season, $25k for a stylist, $15k-per-month for lodging in L.A. and $2,500 per month for general living expenses.

As TMZ previously reported, Cole got the chop before Season 1 aired ... because producers believed the American audience wouldn't understand her super-Britishy accent. She was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger ... who was also fired and replaced by Britney Spears.

According to the lawsuit, Cole says producers did pay her the $1.8 mil for Season 1 ... but stiffed her on the $2 mil for season 2, as well as all of the bonus money for expenses.

Cole is demanding more than $2.3 million in damages.

Sometimes, but not often ... someone says no to the Kardashians -- just ask super mom-ager Kris Jenner who recently tried to hire "X Factor" finalists Emblem3, but the boys said no.

Sources close to the K-clan tell TMZ ... Kendall Jenner is obsessed with the Cali boy band and wanted them to play a gig at her recent 17th birthday bash. We're told her famous fam stepped in to help -- Khloe (who is hosting "X") got the band's contact info and Kris made the call. Problem is ... the boys declined.

According to our sources, since Wesley, Drew and Keaton are still competing on the show, they couldn't find the time in between rehearsals to do the party ... though we're told they would have loved to.

Despite the set-back, little Jenner still had a great time ... prolly 'cause her super rich parents turned their pool (ya know, at their giant mansion) ... into her own personal ice-skating rink.

A letter containing a suspicious white powder -- addressed to Khloe Kardashian -- was sent to CBS today where "X Factor" is taped and the FBI is investigating ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us ... the letter arrived to the studio this morning ... and we're told the FBI arrived to inspect the mystery substance. Sources tell us ... law enforcement determined the powder was harmless.

We're told a letter was also inside the envelope ... we do not know what was written.

This is the 3rd instance we know of where a suspicious white powder was sent to the CBS studio -- two letters were sent to Bristol Palin, and just as in this case the white substance turned out to be harmless talcum powder.

Mario Lopez couldn't get enough of that teleprompter on "X Factor" this week, because he was reading Khloe Kardashian's lines and screwing her up in the process ... but sources tell us it wasn't his fault.

Sources connected with the show tell us Khloe got "really upset" because Mario jacked her lines several times, reading his lines and then reading some of hers ... and screwing up her timing in the process.

Khloe forced the issue with producers after Thursday's show, wondering aloud if he was doing it on purpose. After a short discussion, it became clear to Khloe that Mario was on the up and up -- there were glitches in the production that confused everyone and things got a little out of control during the live broadcast.

Now here's what's really interesting. Khloe has heard what we've been saying -- that producers were insane to make her read a teleprompter, because it robs her of her personality. Fact is ... it's hard for a novice to read a prompter.

We're told Khloe is open to leaving the hosting duties to Mario, and taking on the personality-driven interviews without a teleprompter.

Khloe Kardashian says she can't really blame Simon Cowell for pointing out her nipple situation during a live taping of "X Factor" ... 'cause things would've been even more awkward if he ignored 'em.

As we previously reported, Simon made a couple comments about Khloe's enthusiastic areolas during Wednesday's show ... suggesting the air conditioner was on a little too high.

But on her way out of Boa Steakhouse in Hollywood last night, Khloe told us, "I think if he didn't say it, it probably would have been awkward ... because that was pretty noticeable ... that's live TV."

We also asked Khloe how she felt about working with record producer Damon Thomas -- who happens to be Kim's ex-husband. Awkward, right?

Tonight's "X Factor" live show is being sabotaged by tuna sub sandwiches that left several contestants vomiting -- and now one's even been rushed to the hospital ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the production tell TMZ, Drew from the group Emblem3 went to the set, but had to be hospitalized within the last hour because he couldn't stop heaving up his guts. We're told he's currently on an IV drip at an L.A. hospital, and may not be back for the live broadcast.

We're told the vomit-fest started last night when a bunch of contestants and crew members ordered take out to their Hollywood Hills pad -- and almost everyone who ate the tuna salad subs were up sick all night. We'll spare you the details.

Total casualties: 6 crew members out sick, Camilla from the group 1432 is on set, but yacking non-stop ... and of course, Drew is down for the count.

Khloe Kardashian's boobs stole the show on "X Factor" last night ... this according to Simon Cowell who said he was so distracted by KK's tatas ... he could barely focus.

During Khloe's debut episode as a co-host -- along with Mario Lopez -- it became very apparent that KK wasn't wearing a bra underneath her extremely sheer top.

At one point, Simon pointed out that Khloe was pointing out ... saying, "May I say Khloe, you're looking very sexy tonight ... I think the air conditioning is on high."

Khloe shot back, "You love it" ... Simon, "It's very distracting."

The 16 finalists on "X Factor" better not get any ideas about biting their fellow contestants -- because it's specifically VERBOTEN in their new digs ... along with a bunch of other really random things, like exposing your genitals.

TMZ has obtained a list of the "house rules" in the new mansion where the "X Factor" finalists are shacking up -- and in addition to outlawing biting and indecent exposure ... here are some more crazy laws of the land:

-- No intermingling in bedrooms
-- Coasters must be used WITH ALL DRINKS
-- No loud music
-- No physical altercations of any kind (not just biting)
-- No guests
-- "Be sensitive to others"
-- No drinking or drugs
-- No diving into the pool
-- No use of fireplaces
-- Make your own bed

FYI -- if the house looks familiar ... that's because "American Idol" used the same pad to house its finalists last season. It was also used as a sex compound for Playboy TV's bone show "Swing."