Can Robbie, his wife and a boy band star save The X Factor?
SIMON Cowell has shaken up the X Factor judging panel – enlisting Robbie Williams and Louis Tomlinson in a desperate bid to boost ratings.
Bizarrely, the former Take That and One Direction stars will also be joined by Williams’ wife Ayda Field – who has no previous experience in the music industry.
The trio replace Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger in a shake-up of the ITV talent show, which launched Tomlinson’s career back in 2010.
The X Factor drew in an average audience of 5.2million last year – down 1.3million viewers on 2016 – although these figures do not include viewers watching ITV+1.
Cowell, 58, said of the new panel: ‘I think they will bring a whole new energy. I think we have a good shot, I couldn’t do any more.’ And asked if he thinks the X Factor will be bigger than last year, Cowell said: ‘Let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t do anything to make it worse.’
When asked what Cowell had said to get him to agree to join, Williams said he’d told him: ‘You can do it with your wife.’
Miss Field, 39, is best known for being married to Williams, 44, with whom she has two children. The actress has also appeared in British comedy Fresh Meat and on talk show Loose Women as a panellist.
Defending his wife’s lack of experience in music, Williams said: ‘Ayda is a member of the general public and the general public always get it right.’ He said his wife is his rock, who has ‘looked after me through thick and thin’, adding: ‘Every move I’ve made professionally had been okayed by my wife. She has got better instincts than me, she’s smarter than me.’ Hinting at the big money he would be getting for doing the show, Williams added that there were ‘literally millions of reasons’ why he signed up for the programme.
Cowell said: ‘We have tried to get Robbie on every show we have made for 18 years and then for Ayda and Lauren (Silverman, Cowell’s partner) they became friends.
‘It all happened so quickly. They came to Britain’s Got Talent one night and it all seemed perfect, they came back to my house, we had a little chat on the balcony and did the deal. These two together, Ayda I consider the rock, Robbie can be a bit nuts, but also passionate about music.
‘Louis is brilliant with talent, I’ve seen him come to rehearsals.’
Sharon Osbourne will also return solely for live shows while Dermot O’Leary will be back as the programme’s presenter.