Sharon Osbourne has been replaced by Alesha Dixon at auditions for the upcoming series of ‘The X Factor’, after she was forced to pull out of work commitments due to back pain.

Dixon has only recently finished her regular stint on the judging panel of fellow ITV show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, but was drafted in for ‘The X Factor’ auditions this week after Sharon flew back to Los Angeles in order to seek treatment for the “recurring” problem with her back.

Sharon OsbourneSharon Osbourne pictured in October 2016

“Unfortunately, Sharon is suffering from niggling back problems following surgery earlier in the year and will be unable to take part in the Edinburgh auditions,” a spokesperson for the show said on Thursday (June 29th). “Alesha will be guest-judging on the panel today.”

Dixon, a pop star and formerly a member of Mis-Teeq, was drafted in to replace Osbourne’s fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger earlier this week, after the former Pussycat Doll star had to bow out due to other commitments.

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Osbourne, 64, went under the surgeon’s knife earlier this year for her back problem, after she said she injured while playing with her grandchildren.

“I was on the floor with them playing with toys and I got up. As I got up from the floor, my back — I just felt this twist in my back at the base of my spine,” she said at the time of the injury. “They tried to do it with an epidural to ease the pain – that didn’t do any good, so I had to go in and have surgery. And I’ve been in bed doing nothing. My life has just been like nothing.”

The upcoming 14th series of ‘The X Factor’ is due to be broadcast on ITV in August this year.

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