Simon Cowell thinks Britain’s Got Talent can win back 20m viewers

Crikey, he’s not backwards in coming forwards Mr Cowell is he. No sooner as he stepped back into his Britain’s Got Talent shoes (we’re sure he has some), than he’s bragging about all the viewers he’s going to get.

Not only that, he’s put the dip in ratings last year down to the poor calibre of contestants rather than boredom with the show itself.

"You know what, I think if you get great contestants everyone comes back," he told Digital Spy at the launch of the new series in Manchester, which he wore dark glasses to – in the rain.

"I think it's all about talent. I mean that great year we had with Susan Boyle and Diversity, I think if you had that same line-up, you'd get that 20 million back in a heartbeat."

He also says he’s desperate to find a dog with talent (stop sniggering at the back – there will be no jokes about the ladies of the show in this capacity).

"Everyone laughed at me when I said that there was going to be a dancing dog that was going to be a hit. And then along comes Uggy on silent movie [The Artist] and he is arguably one of the biggest stars in Hollywood right now."

Presumably because Simon though of it first.

If the Cowelster does find a mutt to make into a millionaire, we’re a bit concerned about what he’s going to do with it. Just last week he said he wanted the winner of this series to be the first to be basted into space on Virgin’s Galactic spaceship.

“I am being serious, I swear to God. You could be the first singer or dog act, whatever, performing in space.

“I would go on the spaceship myself. I love the idea that, if they are up for it, they have the option of performing in front of the whole planet in space. It can’t be compulsory, but it will happen.”

All of this of course comes after Simon has admitted to being “too cocky” about the success of his programmes following a year of BGT and X Factor ratings slumps and that Cheryl sacking (all of which he said would be massive hits).

He’s obviously learnt his lesson then…

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2012/01/23/simon-cowell-thinks-britain-s-got-talent-can-win-back-20m-viewers-115875-23714462/#ixzz1kMcU34Zb