SIMON & ON
Cowell will keep going until he’s old enough for pension
SIMON Cowell will be a TV regular until he is at least 65, after agreeing to remain on BGT until 2025.
ITV has extend the talent show’s current deal by another 12 months, meaning it will run for another four series at least.
Britain’s Got Talent was cancelled last year because of Covid but the channel is keen to keep the hit series on screen.
A source close to Cowell, 62, said: “He is showing no signs of slowing down and is working on lots of American projects too.”
Auditions for the new series of BGT kick off this weekend at London’s Palladium. Cowell flew into London yesterday, just 48 hours before filming is due to get going on Sunday.
It raised eyebrows among some ITV execs as a few years ago his perfectionist nature would have meant days of meetings before a series began.
But he seems to be favouring a more relaxed approach to work since breaking his back in an e-bike accident in 2020.
Last year he pulled out of his role as a judge on ITV series Walk The
Line just weeks before launch. BGT will be Cowell’s first appearance on British TV since the BGT auditions in May 2020.
Show sources said Cowell had to finish a 10-day re-shoot of America’s Got Talent Extreme before he could fly to the UK.
Cowell and the other BGT judges David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden often meet for dinner ahead of auditions. But due to the pandemic they held meetings online.
The auditions will be the first time his fellow judges and fans have seen Cowell since he proposed to Lauren Silverman, 44, in Barbados at Christmas.
Cowell, keen to spend more time with son Eric, seven, is also slimming down the UK and US offices of his firm Syco. He closed music label Syco in 2020.
He is showing no signs of slowing down and is working on US projects COWELL SOURCE ON THE IMPRESARIO’S TELLY PLANS