Simon’s fellow Idol judges seemed to agree.

Paula Abdul apparently gushed: "We always have time for Britney. We love her."

And Randy Jackson was also in agreement.

"We’d love to take care of you, Spears! We will make you a superstar again!" he reportedly added.

The troubled 25-year-old has met with a barrage of criticism after her poor performance at the MTV Video Music Awards which was watched by more than 7 million people.

Her new single Gimme More entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at 85.

X Factor is genuine, says Simon - Aug 16 2007
Simon Cowell has denied the X Factor misled viewers as a 14-year-old who’s lucky to be alive, a dinner lady, and a mother-of-two whose father sent off for her application just before he died, were unveiled as this year’s hopefuls.

A record 150,000 people have applied for the fourth series, to show off their talent in front of Simon, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh, and new recruit Dannii Minogue.

Louis returned after being sacked as a judge by Simon.

The first episode, going out on Saturday, shows Simon telling producers he wants Louis back.

Show bosses said they had to re-stage some scenes involving the judges deciding what to do about bringing Louis back but said is didn’t mean they were misleading viewers.

Simon said: "What you see is what happened. We don’t try and censor this show. I’ve always said we will allow viewers to look through the keyhole and that’s what we do. It’s raw and we don’t censor. It’s not a sanitised, make-believe show."

Asked whether any of the delusional wannabes who were convinced they were the next big pop star although they couldn’t sing could have been actors duping the judges, he said: "I’m very, very careful that the people that come on for these auditions are not the people that dress up as a banana because they want to be on TV.

"I’m pretty much 100 per cent certain that they are all genuine."

Cowell’s Mummy Worry - Aug 13 2007
Simon Cowell locks himself in his dressing room after X Factor auditions because he is scared of contestants’ mums.

The talent show Mr Nasty also reckons he would have been beaten up by now if it wasn’t for his security guard.

Simon told the Radio Times that hopefuls usually take rejection badly. "Normally, you’ll get, ’Thanks for all your support, judges’, and the second they’re out of earshot they go completely ballistic," he said.

"And there’s me sometimes locked in my dressing room, knowing there are some very angry family members in the corridor. It’s not a great place to be. I wait until the coast is clear and then I get out of there. Because there’s nothing worse than when you’ve got a mother shouting at you.

"I get collared sometimes as if it’s my fault. They’re never particularly happy at that point. Or you get the contestants themselves, which is very embarrassing. Sometimes they’ll lay into you."

Referring to the X Factor security guard, he added: "Tony’s there mainly as a deterrent. But I’m absolutely sure that if Tony hadn’t been on the road with us, I would have been punched in the mouth."

X Factor returns to ITV1 on August 18 with new judge Dannii Minogue - who Simon described as "a little Rottweiler".

Louis Walsh has also been brought back, months after he was dumped as a judge.

Simon ’to produce singing-contest movie’ - Aug 2 2007
Simon Cowell is to produce a movie set behind the scenes of a TV singing competition akin to American Idol and X Factor, it was reported today.