Desolate Cheryl Cole was last night considering whether to walk away from UK X Factor as bosses gave her a midnight ultimatum.

And she broke her silence about her sacking from the US show to say: “Why did Simon Cowell do this to me?”

Last night, still stunned at the speed of her US demise, tearful Cheryl was holed up in a secret location back in Britain.

The distraught star said she could not believe she had been fired from US X Factor after just four days of ­auditions. “I still haven’t been given a reason,” she told a friend.

Yesterday Cheryl was refusing to take calls from TV bosses demanding to know whether she will agree to be on this year’s UK show – which starts filming on Wednesday.