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Simon Cowell on 'The Voice' and Rumors of Mariah Carey and Beyonce Joining 'X Factor'

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Feb. 8 2012, Published 3:52 p.m. ET

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Amidst all the rumors that Beyoncé and Mariah Carey were being courted to replace Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger on The X Factor, one person has remained mum: Executive Producer Simon Cowell.

Well, not anymore. Simon has broken his silence in an interview with Extra airing today. With reports saying that Mariah and Beyoncé would be paid nine figures, the British judge told Extra, "The budget for the show is $100 million. That would never ever happen. No one is going to pay $100 million for someone. I genuinely haven't had a conversation with her about it."

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However, with both of them recently having babies, could they even do the show? Simon says about Mariah, "I adore her. But you can't expect someone who has just had two kids and has a record career to make the kind of commitment we would need on this show."

Was the firing of Paula and Nicole a sudden decision? Simon admits that it was a long time coming. And with so much competition with other shows like The Voice and American Idol, the execs know that they have to make the second season of X Factor so much better. 

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Simon doesn't seem too worried about The Voice though, even with the great start to its second season.

"I would ask how many records have they made, how many artists have they discovered?" Simon said in the interview, about mentors Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and Cee Lo Green. "That's where we have to be different: on the judging panel. It's very important that you have people on the panel that have actually signed and made artists successful all over the world, not just have made hit records yourself." 

Those are fighting words, Simon! Which reality singing show is your favorite?

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