Cowell fights back over 'fixing' claim

Simon Cowell. Photo / Supplied

Simon Cowell It's the first rule of being a playboy - the more shirt buttons you undo, the greater the licence to swagger.

But as Simon Cowell stepped out wearing a shirt open almost to his waist, the 51-year-old music mogul entered one of the worst media storms of his career.

As millions tuned in on Saturday night to watch the final of Britain's Got Talent, the man behind ITV's most successful show launched a full counter-attack, after being accused of "fixing" things in favour of 12-year-old Ronan Parke.

Cowell has hired a battery of lawyers and computer experts to try to discover the identity of the mysterious blogger - claiming to be a Sony executive - who alleged that talent scouts from Cowell's music company, Syco, spotted Parke two years ago, and engineered his chance to come on the show to win.

Despite the claims, which Cowell has flatly denied and described as "just silly", Parke remained the odds-on favourite to win.

In the end he was pushed into second place as earnest Scots singer Jai McDowell notched up a surprise victory.

To allay the fears of punters who feared the show may have been rigged, several bookmakers had opened a separate market excluding Parke.

Even if the claims prove to be false, questions have been raised over the authenticity of the talent contest.

Although the auditions are open to anyone, talent scouts are known to target acts who haven't applied. This year, after the genuine auditions, more entrants were invited to apply by submitting videos on YouTube, which only producers could watch.

The scandal broke only days after Cowell fended off criticism for sacking Cheryl Cole from the US version of The X Factor. The 27-year-old Geordie was released from her duties after only two weeks, amid claims nobody could understand what she was saying, and that she had been eclipsed by fellow judge Paula Abdul.

Although a humiliation for the ex-Girls Aloud singer, she earned £1.2 million ($2.4 million) and has returned to Britain with a boosted image, prompting some to speculate it had all been a stunt to revive a flagging career.

Whatever his methods may be, the public is due to get a better understanding of how Cowell operates thanks to a new biography by the investigative journalist Tom Bower. The author of several uncompromising biographies of powerful men - Richard Branson and Bernie Ecclestone among them - Bower's book will be published by Faber in December.

It is thought the project began with Cowell's blessing, although its status has changed to unauthorised.

Bower is talking to dozens of friends and business associates of Cowell, and recently spent 10 days on a fact-finding mission in Los Angeles.

However, Cowell made a pre-emptive strike by inviting Bower to the opening of The X Factor in America.

Back at home, producers of Britain's Got Talent have been watching viewing figures, since Cowell gave up his position as a judge this year for the first time.

So far, they don't seem to have been affected, and a slight increase has even been reported.

But with a full-force scandal hitting the show just days before the final, Saturday night's viewing figures will have rocketed.

Which will lead some to wonder, yet again, just how damaging can all this bad press be for Cowell, and his multimillion-pound pop music empire?

And if he does weather this storm, will it mean the undoing of yet another button of his shirt?

- INDEPENDENT