SIMON Cowell today declares war on his former protégées Little Mix — by launching a rival to the girl band’s BBC talent show.
The music mogul has decided to axe the X Factor All Stars series ITV planned to launch next month, featuring ex winners such as Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke.
Instead, he will premiere a show called X Factor The Band to find a new girl group and boy band. It is direct competition to the Little Mix BBC1 prime time show The Search, which will launch early next year.
But in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Cowell — who no longer represents Little Mix because of a feud with their managers — last night insisted HE came up with the idea FIRST.
He said: “This is what really happened. I was approached to co-produce that show last year by Little Mix’s management.
“I told them the problem was we have a conflict of interest because we are launching X Factor The Band in 2020. We were told their show was going to launch in 2021.
“Then we had the fallout and find out Little Mix were bringing their show forward. Was that intentional because we are doing our show? I have no idea.
“But regardless, it was too much fun not to do this year. I would rather it was us doing it first.
“It 100 per cent makes it more exciting there being a battle.”
Cowell has also hit back at claims he has a health issue or that his Syco business is in crisis after he cancelled his 60th bash last week.
He said: “When I cancelled my birthday party it was written I was in some sort of crisis mode. You know what? I can do a birthday party at the end of the year.
“I wanted to make this week’s show better and that means you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and put in a lot of work. But it’s been great fun.”
When asked if his health was OK after a dramatic weight loss sparked by a vegan diet, he insisted: “I’m OK. I swear to God I’m having the time of my life.
“It reminds me of when we first started. People have just got bored of the obvious thing to do. I’m happy that we took that risk.
“Our business is getting bigger than ever before. So when people were talking about me being worried, it’s actually me being more excited and working harder.”
Louis Walsh and Paula Abdul, who had been signed to judge X Factor All Stars, are expected to be axed, with new judges hired.
Auditions will take place soon at Sony Music in London, with the live finals being held at Birmingham Arena in the week the country goes to the polls in December.
“It’s the week of the General Election. So it will be the perfect antidote to the doom and gloom,” Cowell said.
He wants to find a new pop phenomenon to compete with Korean K-Pop acts such as the top-selling boy band BTS.
He said: “K-Pop is ruling the world. This is a show to find a band to launch UK-Pop. It’s more than winning a record contract, it’s starting a new music wave.
“Every group will be put together by us — just like One Direction, Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. It’s people who represent Britain’s version of K-Pop. That was always our plan. We’ve just brought it forward a bit.”
Cowell also lashed out at rumours ITV could be preparing to axe X Factor, insisting a new deal with the broadcaster is days away. He said: “By next week we’ll announce it. It’s already been agreed. It includes Got Talent.
“There is every possibility next year there could be three X Factor shows — Celebrity, All Stars and another group show.
“The important thing about why ITV is supporting us is that it’s the young people watching us. The 16 to 34 viewership on X Factor Celebrity is enormous — even bigger than Love Island.
“ITV are thrilled. There’s a lot of confidence back in the format now.”
Cowell added that rivals to ITV had tried to purchase both Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor.
He said: “We get offers all the time to buy these shows. We’ve had offers from streaming companies paying a lot more money than ITV to buy the show.
“But we have a great relationship with ITV.
“The Celebrity show is going to start catching on because I’ve got a feeling. I love this show.”
