Tag Archives: Simon Cowell

VIDEOS: The X Factor Premiere: Watch The Best & Worst Performances Of The Night

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After months and months of hype, The X Factor premiered Wednesday night and reunited Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell after a couple of years of TV separation.

The show also included Cheryl Cole, briefly, before she was cut by the show for unknown reasons, L.A. Reid, and Cheryl’s replacement Nicole Scherzinger.

Below are the best and worst audition performance videos of the night, but before we go there, is it me or did you guys also find Cheryl Cole too cute to be axed by the show?

AUDITIONS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BIZARRE:

Chris Rene, a 28-year old trash collecter and a recovering cocaine addict with a son who is trying to turn his life around performed his own original song Young Homie:


L.A. Reid said of Rene, “I’ve worked with some of the greatest hip-hop artists, like Jay-Z and Kanye West, and all of my boys would be proud of me today to tell you that you are the truth!”

Simon said, “Maybe you need the show, maybe we need you.” Paula told him, “you are a bright light,” while Nicole played off of his original song lyrics telling him, “Honey, I’m trippin’ on you.”

And there was 13-year old Rachel Crowe who started the show and said she wanted to win so she could get her own bathroom (she lives with 8 people). She sang a full-throated Mercy by Duffy:

Siameze Floyd, the Prince impersonator copy-cat who said he wants an energy drink named after him when he reaches the level of mega-stardom that he is convinced is his destiny. Here he is, wearing a mesh see-through shirt, lift boots, and exploding with energy:

Nicole Nikki Collins, event planner from Maryland who would not take no from the judges while butchering Mariah Carey’s Emotions:

Stacey Francis, single 42-year old mom of two who changed her own life forever by singing Aretha Franklin’s Natural Woman:

Marcus Canty the 20-year old who got a two-year window from his mom to pursue a career in entertainment or go back to school reminded LA Reid of Bobby Brown and Simon of Usher:



Simone Battle, the “fierce” USC student who wants to be a pop icon who people ask to sign their babies. Simon and L.A. could not see eye to eye on Simone’s talents as she sang La Roux’ Bulletproof:

Boy band The Answer who sang Adele’s Rollin in the Deep and Happy Birthday to Nicole:

14-year old John Lindahl who sang Forget You by Cee Lo Green:

Oh and last but not least, the supposed classically-trained Geo Godly who made Paula Abdul sick by taking off his pants and singing I’m A Stud:

“That was offensive, disgusting, distasteful, upsetting—get him out of the building, please,” L.A. demanded.

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ON THE X FACTOR THE ENTIRE SEASON! 

Simon Cowell: “I Will Give All My Money Away To Charity..Once I Die.”

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Simon Cowell is gearing up for the premiere of his latest US show, The X Factor, coming in the fall. But for now, he’s telling GQ about his excitement over this new show and the boredom he experienced on American Idol.

About his new show, Cowell says he wants to “supersize” everything. About his old show, he says, “I was bored. But at the same time I had a deal with Fox, and you’ve got to do what you’ve been paid to do.”

Simon also says: “The first two or three years on Idol, I had a blast. And then, as it got more and more successful, I didn’t want to do it anymore. I just felt I was there being paid to do a role, and after a while that’s not very satisfying. So it was hard work the last couple of years. I wanted to do [The X Factor].”

So, Simon stayed on much longer than he wanted to, and kept amassing millions and millions of dollars for the gig. But before you call him greedy, at least he has great plans for the money once he dies.

“One of the good things about making money is that you can help other people,” Simon said while also saying that once he dies, he will “leave the whole lot to charity… You can enjoy it while you’ve got it, and then it’s gone to good causes afterwards.”

The X Factor Winner: To Get $5 Million Prize AND Super Bowl Commercial

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I recently attended a taping of The X Factor and was quite impressed by the talent which remained on the show at that point – there were 72 hopefuls at that stage.

At today’s Television Critics Association press panel, Simon Cowell discussed key details and dates of the show which is sure to be a hit:

Why was Cheryl Cole replaced after auditions were already held in two cities:
“We felt that she was going to be more comfortable doing the UK show than the American one [and] I thought it would be been good for the show over there.”

What is the grand prize?
$5 million plus a feature in a Pepsi Super Bowl commercial.

Key Show Dates:
Wednesday, Sept. 21 – Season Premiere
Wednesday, Oct. 5 – Contestant Boot Camp Begins
Tuesday, Oct. 25 – : Finalists Revealed
Wednesday, Nov. 2 –  First Live Performance Show
Wednesday, Dec. 21 –  Live Season Finale, Part 1
Thursday, Dec. 22 –  Live Season Finale, Part 2

VIDEO CLIP OF THE DAY: Simon Cowell & X Factor Poke Fun At American Idol

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VIDEO CLIP OF THE DAY.

Are you ready for The X-Factor? You can watch a preview clip of Simon Cowell‘s new singing competition show below.

Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid are all featured on the panel in this video which premiered Tuesday on Fox during the MLB All-Star game.

The video takes a shot at the new, kinder American Idol as the it starts with Cowell having a nightmare that the X Factor judges are also offering the contestants positive feedback only. Once he “wakes up,” we see edgier judges in front of a live studio cracking the whip on the contestants, each other and the audience!

Cowell has said about the US version of the show: “This is everything you would dream of doing if you were making a TV show. There is nothing more I could want. In fact, today I was thinking, is there anything else I need? Then, literally, a helicopter was transported past me in a truck, and I think I said we’ve got it all. This is why you make TV shows. This is everything I’ve always dreamt of doing.”

Abdul added, “Simon says that I inspired him for the whole idea. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if it is a compliment or an insult. It’s probably an insult, but it was funny. Having Simon high-five me and watching Simon giving a standing ovation to a young girl singing ‘Tomorrow’ from ‘Annie’…we had to hold it in. We were laughing very hard.”

X Factor’s two night season premiere airs on Fox Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 8/7c and Thursday, Sept. 22 at 8/7c on FOX.

Here is the preview below.

Paula Abdul And Simon Cowell Reunite On ‘X Factor’

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Well, the rumor mill was right. The last seat on the judges’ panel for the upcoming The X Factor has been filled by…Paula Abdul.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Abdul just completed last-minute negotiations, perfectly in time for the show’s first pre-taped episode which starts today!

Abdul will join Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid as judges for the new show.

Pussycat Doll and former Dancing With the Stars‘ mirrorball champion Nicole Scherzinger will serve as co-host for the show, along with Steve Jones, a British TV personality.

The adorable Paula confirmed the news of her new gig herself by sending this message via her Facebook page and Tweeting the photo of herself and fellow judge Cheryl Cole below:

Paula Abdul: “Facebookers, yes yes yes I’ll be judging on X-Factor. There’s a ton of stuff going on right now, but I’ll pop in as much as I can. love you ALL & thank you for your constant, love, support, encouragement & just EVERYTHING! xoxoxoxoP”

What do you think of this line up? Do you think it’s a good idea to reunite American Idol judges Cowell and Abdul in a whole new setting?

Move Over Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest Is The New Top Reality Dog

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Ryan Seacrest, the busiest man in showbiz, has now ousted Simon Cowell  from the top spot on The Hollywood Reporter‘s fourth annual Reality Power List.

Cowell was ranked number one the last two years in the running but has now dropped to number 6 among the 50 people considered to be making the greatest impact in the realm of unscripted television.

The rankings were based on: Having a reputation for quality and innovation within the business; the indelible mark one makes on his/her shows as overseeing executive, producer, or talent; one’s overall impact on pop culture, and the “watercooler” factor: One’s ability to create dramatic, comedic and can’t-miss TV moments.

Those requirements pretty much sum up our American Idol host and producer of the Kardashian TV empire.  Seacrest is credited with the resurgence of Idol after the high profile departure of Cowell and he won an Emmy last August for producing Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Congrats Ryan!

L.A. Reid Confirms Next ‘X Factor’ Judge: Cheryl Cole

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L.A. Reid was the first judge confirmed for the U.S. version of X Factor this year. And he may have beat Simon Cowell to the punch and let the cat out of the bag: He has confirmed that long-rumored judge Cheryl Cole will be sitting next to him on the judge’s panel when the show premieres in the fall.

Cheryl has been a judge on the British version of the show since 2008.

X Factor will be going against some tough competition but Reid is confident the show will do great. He says “We’re gonna compete against American Idol just fine. I’m confident. But along with Simon Cowell and Cheryl, I don’t know who the other judge is.”

Video: Stevie Wonder Sings Happy Birthday To Steven Tyler

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American Idol is so good right now that it’s hard to remember that so many of us deemed the show dead after Simon Cowell‘s departure from the judges’ panel.

Thursday night’s Idol results show was pretty amazing TV. There were too many moving and memorable moments: From a results shocker way earlier in the season than ever, to Randy Jackson stopping Casey Abrams mid song, to the judges using their one save without any deliberation needed, to Casey dropping to his knees in utter joy after being saved unanimously by the judges, to Hulk Hogan making a surprise appearance and then punching Ryan Seacrest into the audience and ripping his own shirt apart, to the judges acting all star struck during Stevie Wonder‘s surprise performance, to Stevie singing happy birthday to Steven Tyler.
I am not sure which of those was my favorite moment of the night, but I tell you, the picture above which Steven Tyler sent via Twitter after Idol ended tonight kinda stole my heart. The caption simply read, “WITH STEVIE AFTER THE SHOW….MAGIC…LUV, ST.”
Watch Stevie Wonder’s performance on Idol below:

Confirmed: L.A. Reid Will Judge Simon Cowell’s ‘The X Factor’

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It’s finally official after weeks of speculation: Simon Cowell has confirmed record-producer Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid as the first judge (other than himself) on the The X Factor. Cowell said of his choice:

“L.A. was my number one choice to sit alongside me on the show. In my opinion, he is one of the greatest ever music executives and of course a fantastic writer and producer. I am thrilled he has agreed to join the show, and for any artist auditioning, they know they have the chance to meet a true star-maker.”

L.A. Reid is a perfect pick as a judge for a singing competition. He has after all helped launch the careers of Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber and countless others.

In an official press release from the network, Reid stated:

“I am proud to stand next to my dear friend Simon Cowell, one of the world’s most gifted and charismatic talent magnets. ‘The X Factor’ provides an extraordinary opportunity for aspiring artists of every age and genre to showcase their unique talents. I truly look forward to discovering our next generation of superstars.”

In case you want to be on the show, auditions for The X Factor begin on March 27th in Los Angeles with stops in Miami, Newark, Seattle, Chicago and Dallas. You just need to be twelve years old or older. The prize? A cool five-million dollar recording contract.

The X Factor premieres this fall on FOX.