Former ITV Entertainment Controller Claudia Rosencrantz has said she commissioned the singing contest The X Factor to keep Simon Cowell at the broadcaster despite not liking the show’s format.<\/p>\n
The 66-year-old admitted she preferred the format of its predecessor, Pop Idol, while speaking on a new Magic Radio documentary called Popstars at 25: The Story of a Talent Show Revolution.<\/p>\n
Rosencrantz explained: “X Factor is not as good a format as Pop Idol, it just isn’t. Pop Idol is the most beautiful format.<\/p>\n
“It’s just perfect, pure format, and it works, and it’s worked in every single territory in the world that it’s hit. The X Factor hasn’t, and the reason it hasn’t is it’s not as pure.”<\/p>\n
She said the fact that judges mentored acts on The X Factor meant they had “too much skin in the game”, before describing Pop Idol as a “much, much better show”.<\/p>\n
Rosencrantz added: “I think at the time, with my ITV hat on, Simon was, he was an absolutely huge star, and as a network, did we need to stick with Simon, or did we need to stick with the better show?<\/p>\n
“It was the worst and most painful decision I’ve ever had to make. But if I had to make it again, I would make the same one, because Simon was absolutely amazing at that time, and he was going to go off to America.<\/p>\n
“He was going to go, and so to keep a hold of him here on ITV as his home network, I felt was quite an important thing.”<\/p>\n
The X Factor last aired in 2018, having followed Pop Idol, which ran from 2001 to 2003.<\/p>\n
Cowell is currently a judge on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, which has been airing since 2007.<\/p>\n
Episode one of Popstars at 25: The Story of a Talent Show Revolution will launch on Magic Radio at 7pm on Sunday, 15 February, and can be heard in the Rayo app.<\/p>\n
Source: Press Association<\/p>\n