Sharon Osbourne’s £1m X Factor payday despite cut in workload that means she will only take part in live shows

SHARON Osbourne is laughing all the way to the bank after getting her full X Factor wage for a fraction of the work.

The judge will receive more than £1million for the next series — but won’t have to take part in long days during the audition process.

Sharon, 65, who has starred on the ITV programme for seven years, will instead appear only on the live shows towards the end of the series.

A source said: “Sharon has managed to negotiate herself a plum deal.

“She’s doing the easiest part of the work for exactly the same price as last year.”

Last year Sharon was left exhausted by flights between London and the US, where she is a talk show panellist.

But the source added: “Long gone are the days where she has to travel between Los Angeles and the UK constantly for months.

“She’ll have to be in London for just the live shows now.”

The switch comes two months after The Sun revealed how Simon was secretly plotting a massive overhaul of the show as it enters its 15th year — with Nicole Scherzinger, 39, axed and Sharon and fellow judge Louis Walsh, 65, at risk.

We told how Simon wanted to inject fresh blood into the show by completely overhauling the judging panel which has not changed since 2015.

Like Sharon, Louis has a year left on his contract.

He has been fired from the show twice, only for close pal Cowell, 58, to reverse the ruling.

But his decision to take part in a Specsavers drive highlighting his hearing loss was seen as a bridge too far.

Pop heart-throb Craig David and One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson were in initial talks to become the new male judge.

An announcement about who is joining the panel is thought to be imminent.

Former judge Cheryl Tweedy, Britain’s Got Talent panellist Alesha Dixon, Kylie Minogue and Mariah Carey are all in contention to replace Nicole.