From her bouncy, shining mane to the over-sincere pep talks she doles out to her "girls", Cheryl Cole seems a perfect fit for US television. She has glamour, style and empathy – all the qualities an American audience can understand.
Until, perhaps, she opens her mouth. Cheryl's Geordie accent may be celebrated (in a way) in the UK – this Christmas brings the book Woath It? Coase Ah Am, Pet by Twitter's @CherylKerl – but there are worries that some of the X Factor judge's pearls of wisdom might get slightly lost in translation in America. Imagine missing out on such gems as "That is the performance of the week for me", "You made that song your own" or "I loved it". Saturday night television would be ruined. The US has never coped well with northern English accents. Currently it's Vernon Kay's broad Bolton burr that is mystifying the Americans – viewers of ABC's Skating with the Stars have complained that he is difficult to understand. And that despite American viewers having years and years of Daphne's faux "Manchester" accent in Frasier.
Cole might be looking for inspiration to Brummie Cat Deeley, who has somehow transformed herself from hangover-TV presenter into super-glossy US TV host. Sadly, Deeley's Geordie co-stars Ant and Dec from their days on CD:UK fared less well on US TV in 2007. Producers for their shortlived game show Wanna Bet reportedly hired an interpreter to flag words that might prove unintelligible to viewers. Cheryl could just do a Joss Stone and seemingly ditch the accent altogether, of course, although the reaction in the UK might not be overwhelmingly positive. There were reports this summer that she had picked up an American twang after spending time in the US, but it must have been so slight as to be entirely undetectable: certainly there has been no sign of it this series. And in any account Cole has said she is determined to keep her accent. Which surely must be no more difficult to understand than the motivation of the thousands of people determined to audition for her.