NEWS'The X Factor' to Give $5 Million Prize; Simon Cowell Says Prize Adds "Pressure"
Feb. 8 2011, Published 4:39 a.m. ET
Simon Cowell's The X Factor announced yesterday that the winner of the show will receive a prize of $5 million! And now Simon is speaking out to the press about the "pressure" the prize will put on contestants.
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Along with the $5 million, the winner will receive a recording contract with Sony, and Simon told the reporters over the phone that the grand prize makes him a little nervous.
"The money rightly puts an enormous amount of pressure on people," Simon said (via PopEater).
"This is not a dressed-up $5 million," he added. The winner will receive once a year a check for $1 million for five years and recording and marketing expenses will not be deducted from it!
Luckily, the money will also come with financial advice on how to manage spending it.
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So now that the prize is settled, who will be on the judges' panel with Simon?
Well, he said you'll find out "in three or four weeks."
And until then, Simon won't say if Paula Abdul will be one of them.
"I'm a massive fan of Paula's. When you work with somebody as long as I did with Paula ... we were friends 80 percent of the time and interestingly, we've been in contact (after Idol)," he explained. "I'm not going to say on this call who we are going to confirm or not confirm, but we're talking to a number of people."
And Simon says he wants to not only judge and critique, but also mentor the contestants.
"I got bored of just judging," Simon said. "I wanted to make a show where I, along with my fellow judges, help competitors on a regular basis."
And he also wants to use his music industry experience on The X Factor.
"It's more interesting to me because I have a lot more to do with that," he said. "When you lose an artist, part of you has lost as well. You win when they win."
