A television show for the X Factor winner? Simon tells Billboard Magazine– maybe. I’m thinking he’s got Rachel Crow in mind. Rumor has it that Disney and other are interested in her.
“We have to start to thinking about the record, but it may be more than that — a TV show as well,” Cowell told Billboard after Wednesday night’s broadcast of the final five performers. “We can use this momentum to get attention, so depending on which contestant wins, on the final night we may announce more than the cash and contract as interest has grown for certain contestants.”
“It’s always last second with these shows and we want to go out on a bang,” Cowell notes. “We’re literally making it up as we go along.”
Simon also talked a little bit about what happened with the Pepsi Challenge last night. The person in charge of the vote count mistakenly assumed that the order of the songs were by the number of votes and presented the first song listed to each contestant. It wasn’t until the Top 5 were deep into rehearsals before a producer noticed that the wrong songs were sent to the contestants.
“When you make reality TV, that’s a chance you take,” Simon says. “There are mistakes. The good thing is we can come back next week with the Pepsi Challenge.”
As far as album release dates for the contestants signed, Simon not sure a quick turnaround is the best idea:
“I don’t know what the answer is — it really depends on who wins. My experience, if you want the best out of these contestants, you need to spend a minimum of eight or nine months in the studio. The good thing is that, because you’ve got the show back, you’re going to be able to launch them the following year.
“I’m pushing at this point to really build a fan base for these people,” he says, noting that an album that underperforms “cannot happen more than once.” The other objective is to cement “X Factor” as a show that creates stars.
Also, Simon thinks Paula made a big mistake letting the Glee-like group, inTENsity, go.
“If she had kept the kids group, I think they would still be around now. I think they had mass appeal and would have gotten the Tween market. I think she made a big mistake.”
The group with real tween appeal would have been the Brewer Boys. But they didn’t dance.
