Simon Cowell wants to replace Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger with two new female judges on 'The X Factor'.

The music mogul sensationally axed the two stars after just one season of the US version of the pop star search show but rather than go for a complete revamp, he and co-star L.A. Reid are currently searching for two new high profile women to join the panel.

L.A. said: ''The only thing you can count on is that we will have two girls. That we can confirm.''

Simon added: ''There's a load of speculation, some true, some not true. It's true to say that there a lot of more people have entered the frame this year. We were waiting to see who was going to contact us before we actually contacted people. We're in that place right now, which is a good place to be in. We will meet a number of people over the next few weeks, mainly to explain to them that this is a big commitment when you do a show like this because of the mentoring aspect. I can't confirm or deny any of these rumuors at the moment.''

Whitney Houston was being considered for one of the vacant roles before her untimely death earlier this month and L.A. revealed plans for a tribute to the late singer.

He said: ''I actually think that's a great idea. I was going to recommend that, that we do a Whitney segment because the music is so amazing and it's so generational and such a challenge for singers.''

Simon added: ''I have a feeling, just a hunch, that you may see a Whitney tribute on 'The Voice' and 'American Idol' before us. If we decide to do it, we have to do it in a different way. The important thing is that we are going to continually pay tribute to Whitney on this show.''

Simon also has plans to replace ousted presenter Steve Jones with two hosts, a male and a female and hinted they will likely be from America rather than Britain.

He said: ''There will be two hosts in season two. I always wanted a boy and a girl to host the show, and I definitely think that's going to happen now.''