Cowell gambles on America’s best paid TV star to revive flagging show

SIMON Cowell hopes the world’s highest-paidtv star can lure viewers back to his flagship US show.

Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara makes her debut as a judge alongside him ontuesday in the

15th season ofamerica’s Gottalent.

Cowell, 60, said: “I’ve known her for years and we’ve been friends for a long time.

“When Modern Family ended, I didn’t think twice about making her an offer.”

Cowell will be hoping that Sofia, 47, can help to revive the flagging fortunes of his talent show format.

She has just finished filming the eleventh and final series of the ABC sitcom, which won her huge acclaim – and fortune – in her role as Gloria.

He has not revealed how much she is being paid – but records for the last tax year reveal she earned a massive $42.5million (£34.9million) from acting.

That is way ahead of the highestearning male actor ontv – The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons who made $26.5million (£21.8million).

Sofia, who has also starred in films including Machete Kills, Hot Pursuit andthe Emoji Movie, said she is

“deeply honoured” to be the first Latina celebrity on the panel.

She will join returning judges Cowell and Howie Mandel and fellow newcomer, former supermodel Heidi Klum.

She added: “Some of the audition tapes we are using were homefilmed by contestants in quarantine or lockdown, but that hasn’t stopped their talents shining through.

“It has been very emotional and moving.”

She will be joining a show which has been in decline in recent years.

America’s Got Talent, hosted by actorterry Crews, has lost almost a third of its viewers in less than two years and last September’s season 14 finale drew a record-low audience of 10.1 million.

But the UK format has given Cowell cause for hope. A peak audience of just under 10 million people watched the first episode of the new series.

The figures made BGT the second most-watched show of the year so far outside of news programming and Saturday Night Takeaway.