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The X Factor
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Nicole Scherzinger, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Antonio Reid, and Steve Jones stand together on the red carpet at the X-Factor premiere in Los Angeles.
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The X Factor

British television program
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Nicole Scherzinger, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Antonio Reid, and Steve Jones stand together on the red carpet at the X-Factor premiere in Los Angeles.
Nicole Scherzinger, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Antonio (“L.A.”) Reid, and Steve Jones (From left) Nicole Scherzinger, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Antonio (“L.A.”) Reid, and Steve Jones at The X-Factor premiere screening, Los Angeles, California, 2011.

The X Factor is a British television talent competition that began airing in 2004. Co-judged by Simon Cowell, who also coproduced it through his company, Syco Productions, the show was developed from the format of Pop Idol.1

The program allows viewers to choose the winners in the final rounds, a concept Cowell and Simon Fuller further developed from Popstars. The X Factor won the award for best entertainment program from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2006. Cowell later left American Idol to work on a U.S. version of The X Factor, which aired from 2011–13. After its cancellation, he returned to host the British version, which concluded in 2018.1

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2 Britannica Sources
  1. Simon Cowell
  2. American Idol

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