Simon Cowell has an amazing ability to polarise opinion. Some think of him as a great TV dame who is there to provide high-camp in a sea of TV seriousness. Others meanwhile, seem to hate him so much that they tune-in for his shows, just so they can turn their back on them and tut repeatedly.
Either way, Cowell’s shows are big business and pretty much everyone has an opinion on them. But for how long?
You see, the future of The X Factor and Britain?s Got Talent is now in doubt after Cowell stated that he’s still not made his mind up about the franchises. And if Cowell goes, then surely, the show goes with him?
At the time of press, Cowell has only agreed to do the American X Factor in 2011 and hasn’t yet decided if he’s even going to bother with the British programmes.
He told some newspaper:
“At the moment you are only going to see me do one show – and it is not in England. We have to make a decision if we can make the shows better. Do people want them back?”
“There has got to be a mood here for these shows, and I have always been very conscious of that. You can't force anything. And it has got to be fun, the minute it stops becoming fun, bye bye.”
“Genuinely I am going to take this week by week because it is about mood. That is how I feel. I may wait till the end of this show to decide, exactly. Look, at the end of the day you are led by your audience, if they are enthusiastic and they want more, you do it.”
Ratings for the show have been high in this new series, breaking the 10 million mark consistently. However, it hasn’t been without controversy after loads of people complained about autotune and the treatment of a contestant who it transpired had mental health issues.
Still. That girl who punched her mate in the face was good fun wasn’t she?
Cowell hasn’t decided about the future of BGT, saying:
“I have not decided if I am doing Britain?s Got Talent. There are a lot of scheduling issues. We are getting to the point where we have to make a decision.”
The show is in limbo, after Piers Morgan quit the show after signing a ?5.5million deal with US TV network CNN. It’s baffling isn’t it? Piers Morgan, cracking America with his big suet-pudding face.
Is this the end for X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent in the UK?