Simon Cowell Calls 'X Factor' 'Crisis Meeting' in UK (Report)

LONDON -- Simon Cowell, gearing up for the finale of the U.S. version of The X Factor, is to return to the UK in January for a "crisis summit" to work out ways of giving the UK show fresh legs.

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This year's contest to find an emerging singing talent failed to attract big audiences, with the public and media complaining the show was tired and unappealing.

The TV audience for the Dec. 9 final show here was the lowest since 2006, despite the fact that a whopping 11 million viewers tuned in to see James Arthur crowned the winner.

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According to a report in The Guardian, Cowell will come back to meet ITV director of television Peter Fincham and the show's production team, Thames/Syco.

The X Factor executive producer Richard Holloway is mulling what can be done to reinvigorate the flagging ratings.

Holloway told The Guardian there would not be "one element we will not be looking at carefully -- from judges and start times to auditions and glitzy productions."

He also told the newspaper that he'd love to see Cowell return as a judge on the show, a surefire way to boost audiences as people tune in to see Cowell's infamously frank judgments on singing wannabes.

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"If we can find a way to reintroduce him, we will. But it is impossible for him to be in two places," Holloway told The Guardian, referencing Cowell's commitment to spending the fall in the U.S. on the third season of The X Factor there.

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary for the UK show and a return by Cowell as a judge certainly would shake things up.

The most recent outing for the British singing contest has been roundly booed for being boring, inauthentic and straying from its mission to find people who love to sing, rather than those who seek fame.

Cowell is expected to brainstorm the show, its format and production in mid-January here.

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