The X Factor 2012: Cheryl Cole makes her sensational return at Judges' Houses

The Girls Aloud songstress emerged as Gary Barlow's aide at X Factor Judges' Houses, arriving in serious style by helicopter.
And it seemed the Overs category - who the Take That crooner will be mentoring this year - were lost for words asCheryl Colewas introduced by Gary.

The Girls Aloud beauty was on hand to give Gary some top advice at their location in the English countryside, where Carolynne Poole, Kye Sones, Melanie Masson et al fought for a spot on the live shows.

Looking her typically glam self in a bang-on-trend monochrome dress with her hair piled high in a bun, Cheryl watched the likes of Nicola Marie and Christopher Maloney sing for survival.

Standout performances came from Carolynne and Melanie, with Chez admitting: "It's the best Overs we've seen for a long time."

ABOVE: Cheryl Cole shocked the Overs category as she emerged as Gary Barlow's aide

Elsewhere, Louis Walsh shocked viewers when he shunned his usual trip to Ireland for the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Teaming up with Sharon Osbourne once again, the pair watched as Groups GMD3 and Poisonous Twin performed alongside the other acts on the rooftop of The Rio hotel.

ABOVE: Tulisa and Tinie Tempah whisked the girls off to St Lucia for Judges' Houses

Baby-faced croo! ners Uni on J earned positive praise for their cover of Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, while Duke's weird beat-boxing (which sounded like burping) raised some eyebrows.

Luxury was clearly hot on the Judges' wish list this year, as Tulisa whisked the Girls off to the picturesque St Lucia as she announced Tinie Tempah as her aide.

With a number of strong contenders in her category - including Lucy Spraggan and Jade Ellis - it was Ella Henderson who once again stole the show.

The budding singer, who moved Nicole Scherzinger to tears during her first audition, belted out a pitch-perfect cover of a Jason Mraz track.

Lucy Spraggan left Tulisa wondering if she lost some of her spark when she didn't sing her own material, while Amy Mottram gave us goosebumps with her rendition of Emeli Sande's Read All About It.

ABOVE: Nicole Scherzinger and Ne-Yo were in Dubai while Cheryl joined Gary in the English countryside

The Boys were lucky enough to bag Nicole Scherzinger and Ne-Yo as their judges over in Dubai, with the pair arriving on some sort of cruise liner.

Top performances came from James Arthur, who gave a very emotional rendition of I Can't Make You Love Me, while Rylan Clark came over all serious for a paired-back performance of Rihanna's We Found Love.

Jahmene Douglas gave another nervy yet pitch-perfect performance, singing David Guetta and Sia's track Titanium in a very dapper shirt and trousers.

ABOVE: The X Factor 2012: Carolynne Poole and Lucy Spraggan fought for survival tonight

Tonight's double-bill comes ahead of the Judges revealing who they will be taking through to live shows tomorrow night.

Join us over on Twitter on Sunday as they reveal the fina! l 12!

Meanwhile, tell us who YOU think should be in the live shows over on Twitter now.