Simon Cowell Reveals New Judges And Big Prize For Britain’s Got Talent
Simon Cowell seems to be taking the goals of one of his shows head-on this year, as he attempts to raise the profile of ITV series Britain’s Got Talent with a number of changes heading into its sixth series.
For a start, the talent show mogul has re-instated himself as a full-time judge (as opposed to being a ‘live show only’ panel member last year), but yesterday confirmed that replacing David Hasslehoff and Michael McIntyre (who both quit after one series) at the judges table will be comic actor David Walliams and singer Alesha Dixon, joining ever-present actress Amanda Holden as part of a 4-strong panel.
He then went on to state a desire to find an act that can do better than a winner of his other ITV talent contest The X Factor, saying: “Even though they are both my shows, I would like to find a better winner on Britain’s Got Talent than The X Factor. To me it’s a challenge. What I really, really passionately believe when I do these shows is that you have to find someone who can be known all over the world from appearing on the show.”
He continued: “I came back because most importantly I want to change the perception of the show. I think there’s a notion with the show that all we want is older people who can sing opera. I don’t mind that, but at the same time, the whole notion of this show is to say it’s open for people that can’t just sing. It could be a new young comedian; it could be something we’ve seen on YouTube. I don’t know what it is, but you want someone who can be a star all over the world. You want someone who can be a star all over the world and by coming back in 2012, it’s the year of the Olympics, it’s a big year for Britain, we are going to be in the world’s spotlight and I want this show to be back in the world spotlight.”
As an extra incentive to find a unique act, Cowell has raised the winner’s prize to £500,000 ($780,000) a figure up from £100,000 ($156,000), going alongside a performance spot in the end-of-year Royal Variety Show. It is believed that he will personally be covering a portion of the prize sum, as he said: “Normally we have a £100,000 prize pool for the winner and you get to appear on the Royal Variety. I think this year I really felt that I’ve got to put my money where my mouth is and I’m personally putting up £250,000, so that’s £500,000 cash to the winner, so that’s a big incentive.”
Cowell summarised by suggesting the type of act he would most like to see win the show: “I’ve always dreamt about finding a dog who can play guitar. And we’ve failed. So I want talented dogs. I really want one that can dance or can play an instrument.”
The new series of Britain’s Got Talent will begin filming at the audition stages later this month ready for an expected air date of April. While a contribution of £250,000 will be small change to a man of Simon Cowell’s wealth, will these changes to the series’ make-up raise its profile as desired?
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