Julianne Hough for USA X Factor?

Julianne Hough has auditioned for a role on the US X Factor.

The former Dancing With The Stars professional dancer and country music star who is dating American Idol host Ryan Seacrest held meetings with Fox executives earlier this week although she could face competition from singer-songwriter Jesse McCartney, who has also met with show bosses.

Both candidates have links to the show as Simon Cowell is an admirer of Jesse, who co-wrote his protege Leona Lewis’ single Bleeding Love, while rumored judge Cheryl Cole is close to Julianne through her relationship with the dancer’s brother Derek Hough.

“Simon believes Jesse has the right look for the show, and would appeal to both grandmothers and young girls,” a source said. “While Julianne looks fantastic on camera and has quite a high profile in the states.

“Cheryl would love Julianne to be involved as they’ve met through Derek. She would like a friendly face on board.”

Simon has recently revealed choosing the final judging panel is giving him sleepless nights because he and his production team keep changing their minds about who to have alongside himself and music producer LA Reid.

“The truth is that the reason we haven’t announced the panel yet is that nobody can agree. New people keep coming along every week who we want to see,” he said.

“What you do is you make a decision, then you get nervous about it, then you wake up in the middle of the night saying, ‘I’ve made a terrible mistake.’ You call everybody the following day to say you’ve changed your mind and then 24 hours later you go through the same process again.

“But this happens on all of our shows. I’ve been on shows where the day before we’re due to film, we haven’t decided who’s going to be on the show.”

Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Simpson and Katy Perry are also believed to be among the stars in line to judge the pop hopefuls.