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Cowell to take X Factor to America

'X Factor' judge and producer Simon Cowell has spoken about his enormous workload while confirming plans to bring the show to America and beyond.
1 of 1 Simon Cowell - talks about pressures on his time
Simon Cowell - talks about pressures on his time

He confirmed that shows in Los Angeles and Las Vegas were being lined up and hinted that versions for countries such as Afghanistan or North Korea should not be ruled out.

Check out our X Factor Blog here.

However he also said how a "tidal wave of stuff" can leave him feeling trapped and overloaded when the immense work pressures become too much.

Speaking to BBC's Newsnight he said: "I get to a point sometimes where I get overloaded, where you can have a week or a month where you're responsible for so many things, where you have to deal with so many people and this can go on from leaving the office till 5 or 6 in the morning if we have to deal with America, where you just... you just have enough.

"Sometimes you're happy, sometimes you get a bit down, and when I'm down I like to be quiet and then I work things out in my head again. Because sometimes you feel that it's like a tidal wave of stuff that continues to come. You do feel trapped and you don't want to let anybody down."

He added he was "ashamed" of the initial response of Britain's Got Talent to the mounting pressure on Susan Boyle before her breakdown and admitted "total responsibility".

As to The X Factor, the 50-year-old said the show "will go to America".

"To not make X Factor in the biggest market in the world would be crazy, but we take the show with British producers so it has hopefully that same - as you call it - craziness, unpredictability. I wouldn't gloss it up for the American market, I would never do that."

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