Simon Cowell Considered Retiring If New Show 'The Next Act' Didn't Work Out

Transcript

00:00On the show, you seem generally worried at times, and I know you told your team on the show you'd

00:05keep searching as long as it took. Do you still fear failure after all of your success?

00:11Well, at this point, because I did say it ends when I feel happy. So it wasn't like you have

00:21to make a decision on, you know, whatever the date was. It just got to that point where I went,

00:26you know what, it's starting, I think, to work. And more importantly, they're starting to gel with

00:33each other, and I can see them working together. So at the point, I said, right, we're done.

00:41I woke up the following morning, and I went, I really, really think this is a good band.

00:47I mean, genuinely, I really, I'm not just saying that, I really, really like them. And I rate them.

00:54And I think, you know, people are going to be surprised over the next few weeks and months,

01:00you know, how talented they are, and both, not just the singers, as musicians,

01:06as human beings, they're just everything you want in a band. I just love them.

01:14You mentioned that if the band didn't work out, you might be dumb. The average age of retirement

01:19in the UK is 64, by the way, and it's 62 in the US. You're 66. When do you ideally want to retire?

01:27Are you going to work forever?

01:28What I said was, I would have to accept that what I've done in the past, which is putting together

01:34bands, if I couldn't do it again, it would probably be the last time I ever did it. And I really did

01:42mean that. Because the idea of doing this and ending up with some awful band who nobody was

01:49interested in, just the thought of it would have been, if it didn't work out, I would have to accept

01:54that. You know, if, you know, I was, I thought something was brilliant, and everyone else thought

01:59it was terrible. I mean, that wouldn't be a great feeling. But I'd have to accept it. And

02:04that's what we spoke about at the beginning. And I meant it. I said, yeah, if it doesn't work,

02:10that's it.

02:10You really enjoy working like me. So I get it.

02:14Yeah, I've still got a job. I meant really specifically, I think, more related to music,

02:21because I've done more TV stuff compared to music over the last few years. So this is the first

02:28real music thing I've done, you know, standalone for a long, long time.