The Battle of the Simons

Since Simon Cowell has announced that he will be leaving American Idol at the end of the season, Simon Fuller, the show's creator, has been searching for someone to replace him. Fuller is reportedly willing to pay $40 million to whomever is hired.

Fuller has had bitter feelings towards Cowell since he has announced he wanted to bring X Factor to America. In 2005, Fuller sued Cowell, saying X Factor was nothing but a copy of Idol.

The two settled the issue out of court and continued to work together until last week when Cowell announced he would be leaving Idol.

Piers Morgan, a judge on America’s Got Talent, another show that Cowell owns, told the New York Post: “Simon’s exit is going to leave a massive hole. Idol is built around Simon calling out contestants… And if you remove that element from Idol, you remove a large part of why people watch. You can’t just have four people being pleasant.”

Fuller said that he's not intimidated by an X Factor intrusion on an American market dominated by Idol.

“We’re not going to be led into the mud, we’re going to stay on our hill,” said Fuller.