COWELL ADMITS 'STAGING' WALSH RETURN

Last updated: Thursday, August 16, 2007

COWELL ADMITS 'STAGING' WALSH RETURN

Music mogul SIMON COWELL has admitted to 'staging' shots in the new series of his British TV talent show THE X FACTOR.

LOUIS WALSH

The American Idol star is seen mulling over the firing of previous season judge Louis Walsh in the first episode of the new series, which starts this weekend (18Aug07).

Following Westlife manager Walsh's departure, Cowell and ITV channel bosses invited Dannii Minogue and choreographer Brian Friedman to join Sharon Osbourne and himself on the judging panel.

Three months later (Jun07), Walsh was invited to rejoin the show and Friedman was denounced to creative director.

Cowell and ITV have been accused of filming scenes in which he and Osbourne discuss missing Walsh months after the majority of episode one was filmed, with some reports suggesting Walsh was fired and re-hired as a publicity stunt.

But Cowell explains, "Hand on heart, Louis was sacked. People keep asking if it was a scam. I wish I'd been that smart."

ITV director of entertainment Paul Jackson admits, "Occasionally, we have to go back and re-shoot something. We tell stories, we don't tell lies."

Source: WENN

| Thursday, August 16, 2007

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COWELL ADMITS 'STAGING' WALSH RETURN

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