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"Britney Spears has quit The X Factor USA after allegedly learning that Simon Cowell was about to fire her. The 31-year-old is thought to have told bosses that she won&amp;#039;t be coming back for the second series and picking up her next paycheque of $15 million (\u00C2\u00A39.4m).  Spears - who sat alongside Cowell, Demi Lovato and LA Reid on the judging panel - failed to impress critics with her &amp;quot;boring&amp;quot; feedback and struggled to &amp;quot;connect&amp;quot; with her contestants - some claiming she should &amp;quot;barely look at them on stage&amp;quot;. An insider said: &amp;quot;Britney and her team knew it was unlikely she&amp;#039;d be asked back as a judge.  [Britney mentoring her act] &amp;quot;The reality is that towards the end of last season the main players knew they wanted to replace both Britney and LA Reid.&amp;quot; Reid - who quit last month - apparently &amp;quot;wasn&amp;#039;t at the top of his game in second season and he knew that&amp;quot;.  Other reports claim that Spears has left to concentrate on her own music. She is currently in the studio recording her eighth album and will potentially go back on tour. A source said: &amp;quot;Most people didn&amp;#039;t expect Britney to make it through the season as it&amp;#039;s a demanding role but she did her best.&amp;quot;  A previous report in Us Weekly claimed that Cowell had paid Spears a fortune to just say &amp;quot;amazing and offer half-claps&amp;quot;. Cowell has already fired judges Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and presenter Steve Jones last January in a bid to boost ratings.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/the-x-factor-us/news/a449914/britney-spears-quits-x-factor-to-dodge-cowell-sacking/>