Puppy love: Simon wants to unearth new talent - and he's still barking mad! Pic: © Rex Features
You’ve got to hand it to Simon Cowell: the man certainly knows how to make a comeback.
Fresh from announcing he will return to this year’s Britain’s Got Talent judging panel, alongside Amanda Holden and new recruits Alesha Dixon and David Walliams, Mr C has also revealed he is putting up his own personal cash to make this year’s prize pot the biggest yet.
Last year’s winner, Jai McDowall, bagged £100,000. The 2012 winner will take home £500,000 cash - £250,000 of which will be out of Simon’s own pocket.
He said: “This year I really felt that I've got to put my money where my mouth is, so I'm personally putting up £250,000, so that's £500,000 cash to the winner, so that's a big incentive.”
Simon is determined to make this year’s Britain’s Got Talent unmissable viewing and he’s pulling out all the stops to ensure he unearths the crème dela crème of British talent.
“I miss Britain and I miss the British public and I miss judging them. I want to find the next generation of talent in 2012. Different and new acts, younger and better talent.
“You want someone who can be a star all over the world and by coming back in 2012, it's the year of the Olympics, it's a big year for Britain, we are going to be in the world's spotlight and I want this show to be back in the world spotlight.”
Simon is clearly thinking big and he won’t settle for anything less than the best, insisting he wants BGT to produce a better winner than X Factor.
He explained: “Even though they are both my shows, I would like to find a better winner on Britain’s Got Talent than The X Factor. To me it’s a challenge. What I really, really passionately believe when I do these shows is that you have to find someone who can be known all over the world from appearing on the show. That's what happened with Paul Potts and that's what happened with Susan Boyle.
“I love originality, I love great singers, I love great comedians. I love things I've never seen before. Everyone thinks I hate magicians, well I hate bad magicians, but I'd love to find a great magician.
“I'd like to find the next Nsync or the next backstreet Boys, the next Justin Bieber. I've always dreamt about finding a dog who can play guitar. And we’ve failed. So I want talented dogs. I really want one that can dance or can play an instrument.”
With £500,000 up for grabs, get that puppy on the piano…
TALENT TIME
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