Simon Cowell’s search to find the nation’s next big boyband has failed to drum up much interest or prospective auditionees, as the number of followers on show’s social media accounts have dwindled.
The music mogul, 64, recently set out on a quest to find a group who could rival the success of One Direction, with plans for the search to appear in a Netflix documentary called The Midas Touch.
However, the first round of auditions in Liverpool failed to draw a crowd, with onlookers saying that just 40 people turned up.
It seems the lack of interest has been widespread. As of July 19, the Instagram pages associated with the search have garnered only 760 followers, despite the campaign starting in early June.
The number looks especially disappointing when compared to Simon’s own Instagram account, which boasts 2.3 millions followers.
While the official accounts for his biggest two talent shows, Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent, have 1.4 million and 3.3 million followers respectively.
It comes after Amanda Holden revealed that her idea to spice up BGT had been savagely turned down by Simon.
The TV star, 53, suggested that as well as the £250,000 cash prize and opportunity to perform on the Royal Variety show that is awarded to the winner, a prize should be given to one of the judges.
She explained that she thought a judge should be rewarded with a luxury holiday, if they happened to choose the act that went on to win the show.
Amanda’s own golden buzzer choice, Sydnie Christmas, won the latest series of the competition last month.
But during an appearance on her Heart Radio show with Sydnie on Thursday, Amanda revealed that Simon had immediately shut her down.
She recalled: ‘I’ve always said to Simon, if your golden buzzer wins Britain’s Got Talent, can you have like a trip to the Maldives or something, because I feel like the judge should get a prize as well.
‘But he’s like, “Don’t be silly”. And I’m like, “Actually I’m being quite serious!”, causing laughter in the radio studio.
It comes after it was reported that bosses have widened their net to find auditionees for Simon’s boyband search, and have placed an ad on the showbiz job site StarNow in a bid to attract more applicants, as well inviting transgender men to apply.
Simon finally kicked off the auditions process last week, but saw just a handful of hopefuls turn up in Liverpool.
An onlooker told The Sun: ‘They started arriving slowly from about 9am on Saturday but the biggest number in the queue never amounted to more than about 40.
‘By early afternoon, the number arriving had virtually dried up and it was the same story on the Sunday audition.
‘The amount of railings they put up suggested they were expecting hundreds or thousands of people to arrive and pack out the queues but they had a fraction of those kinds of numbers.’
However, it’s thought that other auditions have proven to be more popular, and there are plans for more days in London and Dublin in the coming weeks.
It was also reported that in a bid to build interest, bosses were enlisting TikTok stars and influencers to promote the call-out for auditions itself, and were reaching out to a number of content creators.
Doubts had previously cast on Simon’s grand new talent search last week, when a singer issued a savage message to the Britain’s Got Talent judge after he was approached by a casting director to audition for the ‘next One Direction.’
In his search for his newest stars, Simon has been seen taking to the streets of London with a sign that read: ‘Simon needs you. Future megastars wanted for new boyband.’
Meanwhile, his team of casting directors have been reaching out to potential candidates online, but one was not impressed.
Fin Power from Liverpudlian band STONE, claimed he had received a message from someone on behalf of Simon and shared his brutal response.
He explained: ‘I got this message from someone on behalf of Simon Cowell. ‘Hello, Fin. I’m contacting you on behalf of Simon Cowell!’
‘We are working with him to scout singers around the age of 16-18 years old for a new boyband, which is being filmed as part of a potential televised documentary following him on his search.
‘The company following Simon Cowell is BTBSC Series Ltd, trading as Box-to-Box Films. I’d like to provide you with further information about how you would like to audition for this, if you are interested.”
Responding, Fin wrote: ‘Tell Simon to go f*** himself.’
MailOnline contacted Simon’s representatives for comment at the time.
Simon recently signed a huge deal with streaming giant Netflix for a new show in his bid to find the ‘next One Direction’ – which he has named Simon Cowell: Midas Touch.
A source revealed to The Sun that Simon is in the end stages of finalising the deal with the streamer.
They said: ‘Netflix is the perfect place for his new show and Box To Box, who are producing the series, have worked with them before.
‘Simon and his team have been working so hard on getting the show off the ground and a final deal is so close now.’
The name of the show has amused people behind the scenes, it has been said.
The source added: ‘Simon knows he is the best at what he does and calling his show Midas Touch gives a new meaning to blowing your own trumpet.’
It was revealed on Saturday that Simon fears the UK is not finding enough breakthrough talent, saying record labels are not signing enough new stars, who face too much competition online.
Simon, who had global success with One Direction and Westlife, is determined to change that with a new project in which he holds auditions for a new band.
He told The Daily Mail: ‘Right now record labels aren’t signing enough new talent.
‘So the amount of UK artists who are breaking worldwide has literally fallen off a cliff because I think there is too much competition online.
‘People don’t knock on your door saying, ‘I’ve got a new band’. It doesn’t happen. You’ve got to go out there yourself and do it. So that’s what we are doing.’
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