Simon Cowell, the head judge of American Idol, is finally calling it quits. This will be his last season with the show leaving Randy Jackson to be the last original judge. Simon will be focusing on launching the X-Factor in the US, a show that he popularized in the UK. Apparently the only thing stopping Simon from bringing it to the US was that he had a contract with FOX and Idol that he couldn’t because he was a judge for Idol.

Here’s some information about X Factor:

“The X Factor” made its debut in Britain in 2004 and has since been exported to 16 other nations.

It differs from “American Idol” in that it allows contestants as young as 14 — “Idol” limits contestants to the ages fo 16-28; does not have an upper age limit; allows groups; has different categories; and has the judges serving as mentors, Cowell said.

Source

Just so you guys know, I’m a huge fan of the X Factor. I’ve watched all the seasons that I could on Youtube and I really enjoy each episode. I’m totally looking forward to seeing a US version come out and I’m pretty sure that it has the potential to surpass the performance of Idol.