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. Kids turn up unrehearsed, wearing the wrong clothes, singing out of tune and you can either say, "Good job" and patronize them or tell them the truth, and sometimes the truth is perceived as mean.

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

I'd say the most dangerous thing I've ever done is probably bungee jumping in Thailand...

Normally if I go to one of these things I'm in and out in five minutes, but at Pride of Britain I stay to the end. It's a fantastic show. But it's incredibly hard on the night when you meet all the kids and hear their stories. They do get to you.

I couldn't think of anything worse than being in an unhappy marriage. It worries me because I've seen it destroy people.

The artists who endure are the ones who stay focused even after they have reached the top of their profession.

I don't want to tell a 15 or 14 year old what they should be doing. I want them to tell me. And that's what I got when I met Justin Bieber for the first time.