Cowell signs fresh 'American Idol' deal; offers Prince William pop stardom

Cowell signs fresh 'American Idol' deal; offers Prince William pop stardom

MUMBAI: Lots of kids dream of following in the foosteps of Michael Jackson, even a prince!
Simon Cowell, the acerbic judge of Fox's music game show American Idol , has offered prince William the chance to become a pop star. Cowell has signed up for American Idol for another three years. A BBC news report states that the judge was confident of delivering a hit for the prince even if he was talent free.
Cowell is also looking to extend his role in television to go beyond music. In March, it was reported that he launched a search for UK's ideal woman to star in a new dating show. Producers of ITV show Cupid held auditions around the UK to find a woman looking for love, money and adventure. In the show, several men battle it out to win the lucky girl's affections. Cowell has already been paid more than ?1 million to produce Cupid. Initially he wasn't going to appear on air. However, he recently decided to serve as a narrator for the first two episodes. The show premiered a couple of days ago in the US on CBS.
The airing comes at a time when the romance reality genre has hit a low recently in the US. When ABC debuted The Dating Experiment last month, it got just 4.8 million viewers. Fox's Anything But Love premiere was seen by a mere 5.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
About Cowell's signing on for another term at American Idol, it was reported last month that Cowell was negotiating a fee of ?6 million with Fox to appear on the next series. Cowell reportedly argued saying that his popularity rivalled the cast of the sitcom Friends.
One of the conditions to him signing with Fox was that the Murdoch broadcaster would help him establish his own production company, Simcow Ltd. and consider a new reality TV series from him.
Cowell has gained notoriety for letting his mouth split wide open and making contestants on American Idol nervous and uncomfortable. On CNN earlier this year, he made the following unflattering statements about Mariah Carey's comeback. "Was there one? I'm not sure if anyone cares anymore. If you're going to come back, it has to be with an awesome record, like Kylie Minogue's."