Simon Cowell Faces Career-Ending Netflix Crisis

When Simon Cowell announced he was launching a new ­Netflix show that would follow his audacious bid to find a new boyband that could match the success of One Direction, there were rumours that it was going to be called The Midas Touch.

Those reports were quickly shot down by Cowell’s abrasive PR operation, and when his six-part show launched last December, it was given a more modest title, Simon Cowell: The Next Act.

The series followed the former X Factor judge’s journey to put together a boyband five years after the closure of his music label, SyCo.

In a similar format to his previous shows, Pop Idol, American Idol and then The X Factor, he held auditions across the UK and Ireland to find the next ‘big thing’.

Cowell, never known to do things by halves, even donned a pair of dungarees and scaled a ladder as part of the show’s marketing drive, to put up a huge billboard in London which read: ‘Simon needs you. Future megastars wanted for new boyband. No time wasters.’

Announcing the project, Simon wrote on social media: ‘Every generation deserves a megastar boyband, and I don’t think there has been one with the success of One Direction in over 14 years.’

Simon Cowell even donned a pair of dungarees and scaled a ladder to put up a huge billboard in London as part of the show’s marketing drive

Simon has been a judge on Pop Idol, American Idol and The X Factor

Eventually, largely thanks to Netflix’s generous budget, he found his seven aspiring singers – Cruz Lee-Ojo, Danny Bretherton, Hendrik Christoffersen, John Fadare, Josh Olliver, Nicolas Alves and Sean Hayden. And so December 10 was born, creatively named after the date the Netflix series aired. The group released their first single, Run My Way, a month later on January 30.

Of course, Cowell did everything to ensure their success. He hired the same management team that catapulted Dua Lipa to fame, as well as a publicist who has masterminded Taylor Swift’s success. However, his efforts have not been enough.

Simon, 66, will surely be relieved that he didn’t call his show The Midas Touch. Because December 10 are hardly pop gold, having limped into the charts at number 72, shifting just 6,300 units (that’s physical sales, digital downloads and stream­ing) within seven days.

For Cowell, who revels in his reputation as a music genius, it will be very disappointing – if not humiliating. Especially coming after his enthusiastic promises that the band would replicate One Direction – who found fame on The X Factor in 2010 and went on to sell more than 200 million records worldwide.

Music industry insiders have described Cowell’s latest project as a ‘catastrophe’ and a ‘disaster’. Even their future at record label EMI/Universal is no longer as secure as Cowell would have perhaps hoped. As for Cowell, his own contract with Netflix is looking rather shaky.

Industry insiders say a second series of The Next Act is now hanging in the balance, as Netflix bosses ponder whether Cowell’s reign as pop’s sorcerer supreme is over.

One source tells me: ‘Simon was so hopeful that he could replicate One Direction. That was the premise upon which the Netflix show was built.

‘There were many 1D comparisons used for publicity around the show and the band, but the reality is that his new band are just not there yet – and may never be.

Members of boyband December 10, from left, Hendrik Christofferson, Cruz Lee-Ojo, John Fadare, Nicolas Alves, Josh Oliver, Danny Bretherton and Sean Hayden

'There were many 1D comparisons used for publicity around the show and the band, but the reality is that his new band are just not there yet – and may never be' (Simon pictured with One Direction in 2013)

Music industry insiders have described Cowell’s latest project as a ‘catastrophe’ and a ‘disaster’. (Pictured: boyband December 10 on Simon Cowell: The Next Act)

‘With all that publicity, Simon’s name attached, a major record label and a ­Netflix documentary behind them, expectations were always high. Instead, all it has done is highlight how the music business has changed, and make it seem as though Simon has lost his Midas touch.’

Friends of Cowell claim that the very suggestion will be devastating for him.

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Simon Cowell's new boyband December 10 release their first full performance

‘This will be very wounding,’ says one source. ‘But you have to wonder why he still feels the need to do this – he’s 66, and the manufactured pop thing just isn’t considered “cool”. Today’s kids just aren’t that easily bought or impressed.’

Another showbusiness insider added: ‘After all that hype, Simon is just not relevant any more.’

This damning verdict couldn’t be further from Cowell’s heyday of 2010. Back then, he was the undisputed king of Saturday and Sunday night television – and was already the man behind number one artists like Westlife, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs, JLS and Alexandra Burke.

That year, 19.4 million viewers tuned in to watch The X Factor final. Matt Cardle won, with One Direction –formed by Simon from solo auditionees Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and the late Liam Payne – coming third.

Cardle’s career fizzled out quickly, but One Direction went on to become superstars. The following series created Little Mix – the biggest girlband since the Spice Girls. Cowell was the cock of the walk – and he loved it.

So what now for the ageing mogul? Some suggest that he may now step away from music. He has, after all, been open about the fact that he loves little more than being dad to Eric, 11, his son with fiancee Lauren Silverman, who is 18 years his junior.

He certainly lives his life far more under the radar than he did at the height of his X Factor fame. Today, he splits his time between his London home and another property in the countryside, as well as regular trips to the US.

While he is still on Britain’s Got Talent, as well as America’s Got Talent, it seems his television days may be over.

Those close to him claim he has big dreams of resurrecting The X Factor format with ITV – but music insiders suggest that’s just a pipe dream.

‘Simon called his show The Next Act,’ says one. ‘It might be a case of his last act.’