Si’s sick of losing TV war

SIMON Cowell has told how losing the ratings war makes him feel sick.

The TV boss’ new series The Greatest Dancer is currently being beaten by The Voice on Saturday nights.

And every autumn The X Factor is being thrashed by Strictly.

In a candid interview, Simon, 59, said: “I am still incredibly competitive.

“So when I see a competing show beginning to do well I actually feel physically sick.

“I don’t like my friends to do well. I really don’t. I think jealousy, in a weird way, is good for you.

“If you’re not jealous of your competitors, you’re not going to win.

“I look at all the people who work for me and if they’re really unhappy somebody else is doing better, then I’m happy.”

Cowell is constantly looking at ways to make his shows more popular.

And he admits he regularly steals ideas from rivals.

Speaking on Paul McKenna’s podcast, he said: “We see a competing show and think ‘take a bit of that show and put it into our show’.”

Simon has been fronting hit shows on primetime telly for 18 years.

X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent are still among the biggest shows on the box and he reckons that’s because he’s not afraid of change.

He said: “You think everything you’re doing can run forever. The truth is it can’t, unless you evolve it into something else. You’ve got to keep refreshing it. And sometimes you’ve got to think ‘it’s over, let’s move on to something else’.

“You do that with artists, you do that with shows. And it’s just a fact of life.

“That’s why X Factor has been such a big hit for so many years, because the show constantly changes.”