Cowell’s Axe Factor as TV show set for chop
PERHAPS Simon Cowell was distracted by reports that his TV talent show is to be axed by ITV.
Whatever his excuse, the X Factor judge was almost two hours late for a photocall with Prince Charles and his wife Camilla at a glitzy charity party on Tuesday night.
And to cap it all, when Mr Cowell did finally turn up, he appeared not to have read the dress code, arriving at the black tie event in a white shirt unbuttoned almost to his navel and without having shaved.
Certainly, he has reason to worry, according to a source who said the X Factor faces the axe after years of plummeting ratings.
The controversial move would see it make way for The Voice when it arrives on ITV next year after being poached from the BBC.
A TV insider has revealed that Mr Cowell’s long-running singing competition will be ‘rested’ in 2017 but may not return if The Voice proves a hit.
With ITV’s contract for The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent set to expire this year, and with renegotiations yet to begin, it confirms that there are serious questions over the future of the programmes. Mr Cowell, 56, whose music and TV empire has earned him a £325million (€425million) fortune, has been looking increasingly strained over recent days, with this uncertainty a possible reason for his apparent stress.
The source said: ‘[ITV] will rest the X Factor for 2017 because there is no way they can run two singing contests and BGT in the same year; they cannot do it. Particularly because the X Factor contract is coming to an end and it has been a disaster.’
The talent show endured a torrid 2015, with plummeting ratings, crowned by its least-watched final ever. Only 8.2million watched Louisa Johnson, 17, being crowned the show’s youngest champion, barely half the audience who tuned in for the most watched final in 2009, which had 15.6million viewers.
ITV said: ‘The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent contracts come up for renewal after the last series airs later this year and we will be sitting down to discuss new deals for 2017 and beyond in the near future.’