United Kingdom – Simon Cowell, famous judge on “Britain’s got talent” and “X-Factor” in the United Kingdom has called for the Eurovision Song Contest to be replaced by a variety show, calling this year’s competition a “disaster”. Cowell is currently working on a worldwide edition of his “…got talent” franchise, which is currently running in over 60 countries. “After the Eurovision disaster, we’ve got to do something about that… If you think how rubbish some of the Eurovision acts have been over the years, I think it’s a natural extension that we now make it a talent show. Because there is some incredible talent around the world at the moment.”, Cowell said. Apart from the fact, that this comment is an obvious attempt to promote his new project at the expense of the Eurovision Song Contest, it seems that Simon Cowell hasn’t really followed the Eurovision Song Contest recently (or only seen the British entries…). The last two editions of the contest have not only been well produced, but also have produced European hits like “Fairytale”, “Satellite” or “Allez, Ola, Olé”
One thing is sure! Simon Cowell has the majority of Britons on his side: Overnight ratings for this year’s Britain’s Got Talent final last Saturday suggest an estimated audience of 12.3 million viewers saw gymnastic troupe Spelbound win the contest. The previous Saturday, BBC1’s Eurovision Song Contest final attracted just more than 5.5 million viewers, a drop of 2 million from 2009. (Source: The Stage)
These comments shatter the hopes of British Eurovision fans, who were calling for an involvement of Simon Cowell in the British selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 on facebook.
Frankly, it is this negative attitude that many non-eurovision-fans in England have, that has kept talent out of recent UK entries in the contest. Last year’s entrant was actually rejected by both X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, but with the exception of Jade Ewen in 2009, most of the ‘talent’ the UK has sent in recent years has been from shows like those Cowell suggests, and they’ve all done poorly.
A contest loaded with acts that would most likely get last place in Eurovision does not sound like a very entertaining show at all. And after the disaster of the worst ESC clone of all time: ‘World Idol’ which Cowell was a judge on, I’m surprised he would even suggest it.
Jessica Garlick was from one of them shows and she came 2nd. Scooch and Daz were not from such shows.
[...] Simon Cowell: Disastrous Eurovision need talent [...]
Why don’t Simon get off the fiX Factor for a while and save the UK’s Eurovision reputation. It’s clearly that the X Factor is the main reason British music is in serious decline.
that i agree too… it’s a bad image and it gets many people crazy over craps and boring stuff… still there is an amazing british music scene
Hey, check out my new site, where YOU can take part in a new online Eurovision competition!!! Participate as a country and vote for your favourite! http://www.eurosongmusiccontest.blogspot.com
Simon Cowell. He knows nothing about music and everything about selling it. I’ve listened to all 42 entries from this year’s Eurovision and I prefer most of them to the dirge that Cowell pushes in our faces in the UK. The Israeli entry is a sunny slice of glam rock psychedelia and Cowell would reject them for not being pretty, None of his discoveries were worth finding.