Simon Cowell: The X Factor will not be ‘rested’

A spokesperson for the music mogul slammed the rumours

Rumours: X Factor head judge Simon Cowell

Gareth Cattermole/Getty

4 February 2016

The X Factor will not be “rested” it has been confirmed.

The show has been plagued by reports that the series will take a break in 2017 when The Voice moves to ITV from BBC One.

"[ITV] will rest the X Factor for 2017 because there is no way they can run two singing contests and BGT in the same year, they cannot do it," a source told The Daily Mail.

"Particularly because the X Factor contract is coming to an end and it has been a disaster.

The Voice 2016

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"If The Voice is a success it's unlikely they will bring back the X Factor but if The Voice is a disaster they have the X Factor."

But a spokesman for Cowell’s record label Syco denied the reports, telling the Daily Mirror: “X Factor will not be rested in 2017.”

Last year’s X Factor final – which saw Louisa Johnson beat Reggie and Bollie – drew in the lowest audience in the show’s history.

Dermot O'Leary - who fronted the show for eight years before Olly Murrs and Caroline Flack took over - recently suggested that the show should take a break.

“If I was Simon [Cowell] I'd take [The X Factor] off air for a year,” he told Radio Times.

“I'd rest it, and then I'd get back to the rooms. For me it was always room [auditions], arena, Boot Camp.”

ITV will produce three series of The Voice starting in 2017, with a spin-off show confirmed for ITV2 and two series of The Voice Kids.

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