By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Devastated Cheryl Cole is said to have refused ITV’s £2.5million offer to return to the UK X Factor, by not taking calls from show bosses before her deadline last night.And a friend of the singer revealed she said of Cowell: ‘I’ve been used. Why put me through it? It’s cruel’, after being axed from the US version.The 27-year-old is apparently distraught and still refusing to talk out other offers, while she has been holed up in a London flat with her mother Joan.Cheryl’s deadline to decide whether to return to the UK X Factor was midnight last night, but as she apparently ignored Simon Cowell’s attempts to contact her, and has consequently blown her chance to return. Filming will now commence on Wednesday sans Cole, according to the News of the World. Fragile: The 27-year-old is apparently distraught and still refusing to talk out other offers A close associate of Cowell told the tabloid: ‘The brutal truth is that no one is bigger than the show – not Cheryl and not even Simon.‘We have a huge show and we need to get on the road on Wednesday and we needed to know if Cheryl was coming with us.‘We have bent over backwards for Cheryl and she hasn’t engaged with us. She is out. That’s showbusiness.’Another source added that show bosses gave the Girls Aloud star a ‘ridiculous’ deadline to try and reply to, which made it almost impossible for her to accept.Cowell apparently gave her an ultimatum, telling her: ‘Do you want another job on more money? It’s a question: yes or no?’But even if she had said yes, executives are said to be worried that her attitude might hinder the panel.One told the Sunday Mirror: ‘It’s an entertainment show and the judges have to be cheerful and positive. We are not sure she is in the right place to take it on.’ Before the axe: Cheryl Cole in Chicago filming auditions for the US X Factor before she was cut from the show Cheryl was dumped from the US X Factor last Tuesday and replaced by Nicole Scherzinger after having already started filming auditions.A source close to the singer said: Cheryl is deeply humiliated and she wants Simon to make it clear that she wasn’t sacked, but was needed back in Britain.’But Cheryl apparently told a friend after being axed from the US version: ‘It’s unfair. They did tests beforehand with focus groups and everything was fine.‘I was flirting with the guys who auditioned and I had good banter with the panel. I don’t know what more I could have done. ‘I know this was Simon’s decision and that’s why it’s so hurtful. I don’t know why nobody told me I hadn’t been performing well,’ the News of the World reported.Yesterday ITV bosses apparently pulled out all the stops to woo her back to the UK show, with a massive offer of £2.5 million to return.But after being humiliated last week, it seems the star has decided to not return despite the huge offer.Mail Online contacted a spokesperson for Simon Cowell and ITV but they refused to comment on the reports.source: dailymail
