Simon Cowell says he’s enjoying his new “X Factor” co-hosts Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio.
With one caveat.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Cowell told The Post yesterday while in Long Island for a round of “X Factor” auditions at the Nassau Coliseum. “The women are certainly ganging up on me a bit, but I kind of expected that, to be honest,” he says, alluding to the newbies and to returning “X Factor” judge Demi Lovato. The show’s third season premieres this fall.
“We did something different this year from past years [with the women] compared to what everyone is doing at the moment,” he says. “It would have been crazy to go to two guys and two gals again.”
Rowland isn’t new to Cowell, having judged on the British version of “The X Factor,” but the Mexican-born Rubio, who’s sold millions of albums, is the wild card. “Paulina interested me for years and a lot of people I know and respect said, ‘You should meet her and think about working with her,’ ” Cowell says. “We met about five months ago and really hit it off. She’s funny, cute and is going to be quite a handful — she’s a little bit of a diva — but she’s also got incredible compassion.”
Cowell says the shakeup on the show following its second season was necessary, with judges Britney Spears and LA Reid leaving and co-host Khloe Kardashian booted.
“It’s something we thought about a lot,” he says. “We never quite made the show here that’s made in the UK, for whatever reason.”
Why?
“I think part of the issue was that [NBC’s] ‘The Voice’ started before us on American TV — our format already had coaches, mentors and teams and we didn’t realize that was going to be part of their format,” he says. “So when they went on, it looked as if we were copying them, and not the other way around. It was problem for us — and the shows started looking similar.”
Cowell, who says he’s undecided if he’ll add another “X Factor” host to join Mario Lopez, is asked if he’s been “humbled” by the show’s ratings over its first two seasons, which fell far short of his initial expectations (20 million viewers a week).
“I wouldn’t say ‘humbled,’ but I’ve learned a lot,” he says. “We’re still playing in front of 10 to 12 million viewers a week, and in the current TV landscape, that’s a lot of people. I’m a big boy . . . and I’m a learner,” he says.“We’re making things better.”