Has Simon Cowell Decided on "X Factor" Judges?

At least one name will sound very familiar to you.

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While American Idol continues its resurgence, post-Simon Cowell, the cantankerous judge is gearing up for his next big thing: The X Factor. And according to a new interview with Deadline, Cowell confirms that he's got three judges in mind to share the dais with him, including one name that will be familiar to Idol fans everywhere.

That would be Paula Abdul, whom Cowell wants but has yet to begin negotiations with. Elsewhere, he's hired L.A. Reid and is in talks with U.K. singer Cheryl Cole, who worked with Simon on the British version of the new show. Is Cowell worried about her lack of name recognition?

"I never think about it as an American or British audience," he said. "I genuinely don’t. I think that’s what's happened on a lot of these shows now is it's almost like you’ve got to hire well known celebrities to be a judge. And with Cheryl, when I hired her initially, I'd only met her literally once when I offered her the job on [British]X Factor. I thought she was bright, cute, knew what she was talking about, ambitious. And you meet someone special a few times in your life.. And this girl is special. She's just got a great ability to communicate. Shes a great judge. She's smart. It's just a hunch. If people take to her like the British public did, I think she's going to do really well in America. And Fox was desperate to hire her."

Interesting. Not that the other three judges matter: X Factor is Simon Cowell's show, and people will watch or not watch based on the chance to see him in all his surly glory.

[via Deadline]

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