{"id":2283310,"date":"2026-02-15T22:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2283310"},"modified":"2026-02-15T22:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:05:29","slug":"simon-cowell-brands-himself-talentless-as-his-latest-bid-to-create-the-next-one-direction-is-branded-a-catastrophe-by-music-insiders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/simon-cowell-brands-himself-talentless-as-his-latest-bid-to-create-the-next-one-direction-is-branded-a-catastrophe-by-music-insiders\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Cowell brands himself ‘talentless’ as his latest bid to create the next One Direction is branded a ‘catastrophe’ by music insiders"},"content":{"rendered":"

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He has built an empire discovering global superstars and turning unknown hopefuls into household names.<\/p>\n

But now Simon Cowell<\/a> has branded himself \u2018the most talentless person in the world\u2019 as insiders say his latest bid to create the next One Direction<\/a> has collapsed into a \u2018catastrophe.\u2019<\/p>\n

The 66-year-old music mogul made the extraordinary confession during a Q&A at London\u2019s Ham Yard Hotel, held following a special screening ahead of the new series of Britain\u2019s Got Talent, when he was asked what his talent would be if he were auditioning for the show himself.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was lucky actually, very early on, I realised honestly I have no talent whatsoever,\u2019 he said. \u2018You know when I see this stuff it’s like I couldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

\u2018Actually being the most talentless person in the world.\u2019<\/p>\n

It comes after music industry figures revealed his ambitious Netflix<\/a> project The Next Act \u2013 which followed Simon\u2019s quest to build a new boyband five years after the closure of his Syco label \u2013 failed to deliver.<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/div>\n

Simon Cowell has called himself ‘talentless’ ahead of the launch of the latest Britain’s Got Talent as his bid to find the new One Direction is branded a ‘catastrophe’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Members <\/div><\/div>\n

Members of boyband December 10, from left, Hendrik Christofferson, Cruz Lee-Ojo, John Fadare, Nicolas Alves, Josh Oliver, Danny Bretherton and Sean Hayden<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Cowell, <\/div><\/div>\n

Cowell, 66, ‘installed’ a billboard in London as he launched his UK and Ireland search for the next ‘boyband sensation’ two years ago which has since been branded a ‘catastrophe’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In familiar fashion, Cowell staged auditions across the UK and Ireland to find the next big pop phenomenon, eventually selecting seven singers \u2013 Cruz Lee-Ojo, Danny Bretherton, Hendrik Christoffersen, John Fadare, Josh Olliver, Nicolas Alves and Sean Hayden \u2013 to form the group December 10, named after the show\u2019s launch date.<\/p>\n

The band released their debut single Run My Way shortly afterwards, but despite Cowell assembling a heavyweight team \u2013 including the management behind Dua Lipa and a publicist linked to Taylor Swift \u2013 success has proved elusive.<\/p>\n

The track limped into the charts at number 72, shifting just 6,300 combined units in its first week, prompting insiders to brand the project a \u2018disaster\u2019 and a \u2018catastrophe,\u2019 with the future of a second series now uncertain.<\/p>\n

\u2018Simon was so hopeful that he could replicate One Direction. That was the premise upon which the Netflix show was built,\u2019 one source told the Daily Mail. \u2018There were many 1D comparisons used for publicity around the show and the band, but the reality is that his new band are just not there yet \u2013 and may never be.\u2019<\/p>\n

The setback marks a rare stumble for the man who, in his heyday, helped launch chart-topping acts including Westlife, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs, JLS and Alexandra Burke.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Got Talent returns on Saturday, February 21, with the current judging panel of Simon, Amanda Holden, 54, Alesha Dixon, 47, and newcomer KSI, 32 \u2013 who stepped into a permanent role after Bruno Tonioli, 70, departed last year.<\/p>\n

He also revealed Stacey Solomon, 36, stepped in as a guest judge this series after he was forced to pull out of filming following an accident.<\/p>\n

\u2018I literally fell down the stairs, so I had a concussion, so I was advised, don’t do it,\u2019 he said. \u2018Obviously, I knew Stacey from X Factor\u2026I wasn\u2019t there, but apparently she did an amazing job.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"'There <\/div><\/div>\n

‘There were many 1D comparisons used for publicity around the show and the band, but the reality is that his new band are just not there yet \u2013 and may never be’ (Simon pictured with One Direction in 2013)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Asked if there was a chance she may be kept on as a permanent judge, he added: \u2018No, we\u2019re not changing the panel.\u2019<\/p>\n

The mogul also revealed that even bigger plans are underway as he confirmed the show will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a special all-stars \u2018champions\u2019 series next year.<\/p>\n

He said: ‘The same judges will be back. We are doing a champions show next year as well, the best of the best, which is brilliant.<\/p>\n

‘You get the best contestants from all over the world and you re-compete in a big competition so, I like those kind of things.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He has built an empire discovering global superstars and turning unknown hopefuls into household names. But now Simon Cowell has branded himself \u2018the most talentless person in the world\u2019 as insiders say his latest bid to create the next One Direction has collapsed into a \u2018catastrophe.\u2019 The 66-year-old music mogul made the extraordinary confession during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2283311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[25884,25741,23191,357373,23185,27184],"class_list":["post-2283310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-dailymail","tag-london","tag-netflix","tag-one-direction","tag-simon-cowell","tag-tvshowbiz"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Simon-Cowell-brands-himself-talentless-as-his-latest-bid-to.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2283312,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283310\/revisions\/2283312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}