The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated.

I love TV. I love being behind the scenes on a TV show but there's something about, I don't know there's something very special when you've signed an artist and that first record comes in and it's a good record. It is an indescribable feeling.

Choosing how you vote should not be a snap verdict based on a few minutes of television.

I think the best singers in the world, historically, are American. Britain's got its fair share, as well, but some of the greatest singers, ever, whether you're talking about Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey or Aretha Franklin, are from the legacy here.

I want people to understand that from the minute Lady Gaga arrived, she created a new set of rules: being different is good; embrace it.

I don't like kids that are pushed into things by stage mums, but when I can see they are having a good time, they're excited and enjoying the process, then I think it's wrong to discriminate.

Rules equal boredom, and I don't like that.