Simon Cowell celebrates Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne reuniting with a double date with him and his girlfriend Lauren Silverman
The music mogul believes Sharon returning to the X Factor was just what their marriage needed
SIMON celebrated SHARON OSBOURNE reuniting with OZZY – by planning a double date with the couple and his girlfriend LAUREN SILVERMAN.
He revealed: “They’ve had their ups and their downs but I was happy when I heard the news. We might be seeing them both at the weekend socially too.”
Simon believes Sharon’s return to The X Factor was just what she needed to take her mind off the marriage drama.
He said: “I didn’t mention it but I just thought I would keep her mind on the show. I think she needed it at the time, it was a great distraction.
“But then obviously I overheard her talking to Ozzy on the phone quite a lot and she seemed happy.
“Sharon is vulnerable at times but she is a tough girl. She makes no qualms about it — he is the love of her life.”
Simon also defends the other returning X Factor judge, Nicole Scherzinger, for pulling out of ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’s Broadway revival of Cats to re-join the ITV talent show.
He said: “There was this to-ing and froing with Nicole. I think she knew we were interested. And then we heard she had been offered Cats. Maybe she took that because she thought ours wasn’t a genuine offer, I don’t know.
“And then she had to tell Andrew and he wasn’t very happy.
“But as I said to her, ‘Look, you were working with us before so what is the problem?’
“He was dangling out, ‘You are going to get a Tony award’. Oh come on! Genuinely, this is the best I have ever seen her on the show this year and the closest to the real Nicole personality you will see.
“She is quite a wacko, but really funny. I am happy that we got her.”
LOUIS WALSH is also back, but Simon denies his claim that he admitted last year’s series was a disaster after just one episode.
He said: “That is bull****! Louis calling me became so frequent that I knew when the call was coming in and I would put him on loudspeaker and I would read a magazine and he would be screaming and shouting down the phone.
“I was like, ‘Louis I am doing the best I can.’”
But he added: “You can’t not love the guy. He is so funny and he really makes me laugh and he is never in a bad mood even when we do all these long days and stints.
“I always say if he had a tail he would wag it. That is kinda infectious.”
Spice up your life
SIMON is desperate to sign the SPICE GIRLS – but only if VICTORIA BECKHAM and MEL C are part of the line-up.
He said of his discussions with fellow AGT judge MEL B: “When I heard it was muted I said, ‘Don’t you dare talk to another record label, talk to me.’
“If they were going to get all of the girls back together 100 per cent I would have been in line to work with them.
“I think you need all five to do it properly, and what I am hearing is it won’t be.
“I was teasing Mel a lot about it and then we got GERI on FaceTime and said the same thing.
“I love those two, they are really great and it would be fun to do something together. But you kind of don’t want to do the watered down version.”
Simon believes “it is a shame” that Posh Spice is reluctant to re-join the group.
He said: “I don’t think it would do her any harm and I think she might enjoy it.”
New deal for Simon's talent shows
A NEW deal to keep X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent on ITV for another three years is imminent, Simon has confirmed.
He said: “We are pretty much there yeah. To be honest with you there was a lot of speculation when everyone thought The Voice was coming to ITV.
“I knew that when they bought the format a couple of years ago. They weren’t going to take it away straight away but they weren’t going to leave it with a rival since they paid all that money for it.”
“They were very clear they wanted X Factor to stay as an autumn show because it is on for longer and when you look at the average weekly numbers for how long it is on, not many shows can sustain that.
“So it works for ITV in both ways — they have got the start of the year and the end of the year so I never really saw a problem.”
But there have been offers from rivals, including streaming services like Netflix and Amazon.
Simon said: “We got calls from everyone if I am being honest with you. I always felt secure about it.”
Got a story? Email bizarre@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 0207 782 4037