Since Cheryl Cole has been in her sick bed (which she's out of now, by the way. She even went to Starbucks yesterday. Hurrah!) and Dannii Minogue's been off having a beautiful little baby, Simon Cowell’s had his work cut out. Overseeing the new judges and dealing with constant questions from the media (you know, when Cheryl will be better, will Dannii's ever coming back and who the hell invited Geri Halliwell to be a guest judge?etc), he’s also been thinking of ways to shake up the show - and he’s done it by allowing more people through to the judges houses and raising the upper age limit to 28. A statement from Cowell camp said, "Instead of the usual six, eight acts will now go through to the Judges' Houses stage so that Cheryl and Dannii, having missed the auditions, will have the opportunity to choose their finalists from a wider range of talent." Dannii even got in on the chatter by tweeting, "Exciting change to X Factor Judges' Houses - I'll get to pick from eight acts instead of six this season!". We literally can not wait.