Rita Ora has revealed how she visited Simon Cowell’s London mansion in the middle of the night to discuss joining The X Factor.

The Poison star has left BBC show The Voice to become a judge on Simon’s rival ITV singing show along with pal Nick Grimshaw and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.

Rita told The Sun: “We had such busy schedules that the only chance we could meet was at midnight, so he asked me to his house where he holds a lot of his X Factor meetings.

“I had a lot of questions and he did too. But it just fit into place perfectly. And the time commitment worked perfectly for me.

“What made it special was when Simon asked me about X Factor, he told me about his plans for the show and how he was going to change it up.

Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell persuaded Rita to move shows (Yui Mok/PA)

“Simon is the one who first put me on TV as a guest judge so going to X Factor is like going home.”

Meanwhile, Simon is rumoured to be leaving the panel of his other show Britain’s Got Talent, to join the US version America’s Got Talent.

Shock radio DJ Howard Stern, 61, is quitting the show after four seasons and is tipping Simon to replace him.

Howard Stern, second from right with America's Got Talent judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Mel B
Howard Stern, second from right with America’s Got Talent judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B (Evan Agostini/AP)

Stern said: “I told them, this is my last season. I’m just too f***ing busy. Simon Cowell wants it anyway. He would be good at it.”

Auditions and early rounds clash with the UK’s live semi-finals and final, so Simon would have to quit BGT or change the dates to appear on both.