Ah The X Factor. We loved it, we hated it, we loved to hate it and, in the words of the artist formerly known as Cheryl Cole, thoroughly enjoyed having a good old natter about it of a Monday morning. It looks like that won't be changing any time soon if Simon Cowell's got anything to do with it.
Despite falling ratings and a rather disinterested audience, Simon's Syco and ITV have negotiated a new $150 million deal (yeah, we almost got a little sick in our mouths too, don't worry) that will see The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent continuing to run in the UK until 2016. "I am thrilled that we have extended our deal with ITV for Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor" Cowell said in a statement. "They have been fantastic partners and we have some exciting new plans to take the shows to the next level."
As well as that, The Sun claims that big daddy to be Cowell witll return to one of the shows (we're guessing it'll be BGT), but will not rule out appearing on the other. Y'see Simon's still trying to flog the dead horse that is X Factor USA (if you want to talk about torture we suggest you give it a watch) so it's hardly likely that he'll be willing to fly all the way back across the Atlantic for too long. Especially not with a babba on the way.
Meanwhile, back on this side of the water, we're preparing to sit through another week of Sam Callahan's wailing. He seems like a decent hard-working lad, but he's quite simply not up to standard. Seriously lad, don't tell us you can't hack hearing the same criticisms (ie you're good, but not good enough) over and over. D'ya not think that maybe someone's trying to do you a favour?
And if himself and his dad remind us that we're not watching The Voice again, we'll lose all sympathy for this modern day Christopher Maloney.