One Direction owe Nicole Scherzinger a blooming big bunch of flowers, according to the sexy new X Factor judge.

Nic helped the boys on the road to success after working with them during X Factor 2010 and jokingly claims she “practically put One Direction together with my hands tied behind my back”.

Since their time on the show, the group have become the biggest boyband in the world, topping the charts and breaking records around the globe – including their recent achievement of selling 12 million records in less than a year.

And Nicole joked that the least the five-piece could do is show their appreciation. Speaking at today’s official X Factor press launch in London, she said: “It’s crazy to see how massive they are. They just performed at the Olympics and it just feels like yesterday we were auditioning them.”

The stunning star jokingly added: “I haven’t received flowers yet. I’m waiting.”

Nic – who used to be a judge on X Factor USA – also said she noticed a big difference between acts in the UK and Stateside.

“Typically in the US, we have big diva singers like Mariah, Whitney, like Melanie Amaro who just won (The X Factor USA) last year and in the UK they are a little bit more singer-songwritery and folkier.

“You’ve got a lot of wit, a lot of character, a lot of storytelling that they bring to the table when they’re performing and when they’re writing so it’s not so much about the big voices, it’s more about the character and the tone of their voices here.”

Source: entertainment.stv.tv