THE X Factor returns tonight — and the judges have vowed to be even MEANER than before.

Supremo Simon Cowell, 48, admitted they are “going to hell and I’ll be driving the bus” over the contestants’ treatment.

See Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole talk about X Factor:

Troubled ITV bosses want more than 10million viewers for tonight’s show after the channel hit a seven-year low last week.

An insider said: “They want to keep the figures up to get them out of the brown stuff.”