"Knowing Cheryl like I know her, we noticed she was quieter than normal, looked a bit uncomfortable but I put some of this down to nerves. The overall feeling was that she was slightly out [of] her comfort zone in America, compared to what she was in the UK.
"If she had accepted my original offer, she would have made a sensational return and would have understood she was more comfortable in the UK than the US."
Cowell went on to confirm that a genuine last minute offer to return her to the US panel had been made to Cole over the weekend.
"When she turned down the UK show, we got back in touch and said, well she is still under contract with the US show so we invited her back. Her position was still there," he explained.
"We had some heated conversations with her US manager will.i.am and he inferred this wasn't a genuine offer. They thought that if she didn't turn up on Wednesday then we wouldn't pay her.
"We made it clear that she was always going to be paid in full. We got to the point on Saturday when we genuinely thought she was going to accept the offer but again neither she nor they returned any calls. So we've announced Nicole."
He claimed that Cole had expressed interest in accepting the offer of returning to the ITV1 show.
"She was certainly interested as we exchanged a few texts and she asked if she could have my dressing room at the studio and I said, 'Of course'," he revealed. "Her management even asked for a legal waiver to her contract with the US show allowing her to open discussions with ITV.
"So we genuinely thought it was going to happen. But the big condition was that it was to be kept under wraps and she would make a big entrance last week at the Birmingham auditions and everyone would have loved it.
"But when the story got out, it changed everything. There was no more communication and we had set a deadline of Sunday, giving her six days to make a decision. That passed and we still had not heard anything. So we announced our UK judges."
"I apologise that all this has become public and I understand the stress she is under, and I hate that. But we have all been under a lot of stress," he said. "When things like this happen I look at the contestant, they must think this is crazy. All the attention is on us. I am sorry this has caused so much anguish and embarrassment, but I stand by what I believe was the right intention. And I would say that to her face right now."
Confessing that she "felt let down" but "understood that it was a professional decision", Cowell insisted that he stood by what he had done.
"We are close friends. I still hope we are but sometimes when you're that close, when you're making these decisions with someone's life you have to be certain. I stand by what I said to her," he concluded. "I hope we're still close friends. I'm sure if she was here now there would be a frank discussion, but will I work with her again? Definitely. She's a star."
. She was my guilty pleasure that none of my friends know about 
But because I like her, I wish her success and happiness, whether she foes global or not
