SINGER CHERYL COLE, MALARIA VICTIM, DROPS OUT OF BRITAIN’S “X-FACTOR”

British tabloids reported today (Tuesday) that singer Cheryl Cole, a judge on Simon Cowell’s The X Factor talent show, collapsed while posing for pictures for her new CD on Saturday and was taken to a hospital the following day where she is currently being treated for malaria. Cole recently returned from a holiday visit to Tanzania. Her illness will reportedly result in her absence from the hit television show for at least several weeks and could play havoc with the show’s ratings, the reports suggested. Another regular judge, Dannii Minogue, dropped out of the show early in the season due to her pregnancy and was replaced by singers Geri Halliwell and Natalie Imbruglia, neither of whom was well received by the audience.