News Bites - 5pm

• Joe McElderry, who is gearing up to release the lead single from his debut album 'Wide Awake,' has revealed that if it wasn't for said single 'Ambitions,' the entire LP would have taken a different direction. Speaking to Radio 1's Scott Mills, McElderry stated that "It was a lot of slower songs and it was kind of like, I was enjoying it but nothing was really grabbing my attention." The single, which has received widely positive feedback shows off an alternative area to Joe's talents which he feels is a positive, saying "I was used to singing so many slow songs on The X Factor, which I don't mind - I loved singing them - but I just thought, 'I'm 19, I want to have a bit of fun on stage and I just needed a few fast songs'." We totally agree with this and look forward to seeing what other surprises are in store when the album is released on October 25th.

• Cheryl Cole is doing little to dissuade the rumours surrounding herself and 'close friend' Derek Hough after excepts of her new book 'Through My Eyes' were published in 'Hello' magazine. Quotes such as  "Derek is a sweetheart - the kind of person who makes the day more enjoyable... and that's important." are simply adding fuel to a fire that was sparked months ago when dancer Hough appeared in Cole's 'Parachute' video. For a pair that seem so keen to dismiss the relationship rumours surrounding them, it feels a little odd to have this published at this time...

• James McAvoy has claimed that he wants to 'bury' Sir Patrick Stewart's portrayal of 'Professor Xavier' in upcoming 'X-Men' prequel 'X-Men: First Class.' Speaking to MTV news, McAvoy revealed that he is looking forward to the challenge of painting the picture of Xavier's origins, saying "I'm basically going to try and bury Patrick's performance," and explained that it is interesting to discover where a character originates from and how they end up being how they are. He went on to add that he wants to move away from Stewart's portrayal at the beginning of the new movie but to get closer to it as the film progresses.

• Alex Reid is allegedly furious, once again, at his wife Katie Price/Jordan's antics. As part of a fundraising event, Price put a date with herself up for auction which was bid on, and won, by two Manchester City football players, for a combined total of £12,000. Apparently promising the two footballers a "night [they’ll] never forget" Price encouraged the men to continue bidding. Reid was under the illusion that the date would be with a regular fan and was horrified to find that his wife was reverting to her old 'Jordan' ways. To be honest, this couple should really stop airing their dirty laundry in public as it got old a long time ago...

• Finally, X Factor lovely Dannii Minogue has come under fire for the huge bill incurred by her request to have the 'Judges' Houses' stage of the competition shot in her home country of Australia, which will have to be deducted from the overall X Factor budget and created a variety of problems. The cost of such a request was sky rocketed by the need to have both presenters Dermot O'Leary and Konnie Huq flown out, as well as the 8 contestants still participating in her category and the crew to film it! Furthermore, by filming the stage in Australia the overall process took longer than the usual two days due to the need to recover from jet lag and so in total took 8. As a result, the other judges were forced to make cutbacks in their own choice of location to cater for the new Mum's demands. Let's just hope Dannii has the winning group to make up for it...