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Simon Cowell blames himself for US 'X Factor' cull

Feb 8, 2012, 11:01 GMT

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell blames himself for the US 'X Factor' cull.

Judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, and host Steve Jones have all been dropped from the TV talent show after just one season, and Simon believes that his bragging led to the mass exodus.

He said: 'It's only because I opened my big mouth and said we were going to get 20 million [viewers]. If I hadn't said that, everybody would be saying the show was a huge success.'

However, he does not believe that rival show 'The Voice' put the US 'X Factor' at a disadvantage.

He said: 'I would ask ... how many hit records have they made? How many artists have they discovered?'

The music mogul admits he found out about the changes at the 'beginning of the year', and said he is sorry to have to say goodbye to his former American Idol sparring partner Paula.

He told US programme Extra: 'I would've liked to have kept her. She was very gracious and I said that to her. She understands it's business; it's never personal.'

Simon added that Nicole was 'disappointed' and explained that L.A Reid got to keep his job on the panel because: 'There's not a record executive out there who is as good as him for the job.'

He rubbished reports that Beyonce is being lined up as a replacement, and said that while he would 'love' to have Mariah Carey on the show, she has a lot of her hands with 10-month-old twins Monroe and Moroccan.

He added that Madonna would be 'expensive' while Katy Perry would be 'fun' and 'feisty'.