SIMON COWELL'S TRANSATLANTIC CLASH

ABOVE: Amanda Holden is desperate to be a judge on X Factor USA

22nd January 2010

By Peter Dyke and Katie Begley

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X FACTOR USA will be launched in September 2011.

And that means it will clash with the UK version of the show.

The news leaves a question mark over where our version of X Factor will end up in the TV calendar.

Telly supremo Simon Cowell, 50, has confirmed that his American edition of the talent show will officially start in the autumn of next year.

Speaking after the NTA awards, he revealed: “It’ll be September 2011. And I haven’t decided who will be on the panel yet.”

The revelation means that there is little chance X Factor can go ahead in the UK in its usual autumn-to-Christmas slot.

If that happened then Cowell would have to be in two places at once which might prove beyond even his talents.

ITV are staying tight lipped for now about what will happen to X Factor in 2011. But it seems likely it would move to a different time of year. And it means the winner would no longer have to compete for the Christmas number one single.

Meanwhile, Simon’s fellow judges on Britain’s Got Talent, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, are fighting to fill the seats on the X Factor judging panel.

Amanda, 38, teased: “I would do it for free darling!”

And Piers, 44, added: “I’ve already spoken to Simon. We are the meanest men in America so I think we would be perfect together!” Cowell has also vowed to stay with ITV and not defect to the BBC.

Rumours were rife last year he might jump ship if cash-strapped ITV didn’t stump up more money for his ratings-winning shows.

However he now says: “We’re going to sort a deal for both X Factor and Got Talent for three years.

“ITV gave us our big break. I am not going to work for anyone else... oops that’s not very good negotiating is it?”

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