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Simon Cowell to be new judge on ‘The X Factor Israel’

“This is the first time Simon Cowell is coming to judge in a country outside of the U.S. and Great Britain.”

By Shiryn Ghermezian, Algemeiner

British television personality and veteran music producer Simon Cowell will be a judge on the upcoming fourth season of Israel’s “The X Factor,” it was announced on Wednesday.

“Over the years we have discovered incredible talents from around the world through the ‘X Factor’ format. I can barely wait to see what the Israelis have to offer,” said the music mogul and creator of “The X Factor,” whose father was Jewish.

The new season will air on Reshet 13 and in a statement the network highlighted that “this is the first time Simon Cowell is coming to judge in a country outside of the U.S. and Great Britain.”

“This is a huge achievement for Israeli TV,” it noted.

The network added that Cowell would help select his fellow judges for the new season of the show and a spokeswoman for Reshet 13 said filming was slated to begin in a few months, according to Variety.

“Cowell is one of the biggest and most influential music figures in the world,” said Reshet, “and his participation as a judge in the Israeli format provides an opportunity for international exposure for Israeli singers.”

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The third season of “The X Factor Israel” was hosted by supermodel Bar Refaeli and aired on Channel 13 between October 2017 and January 2018.

Past judges have included rapper Subliminal, pop star Ivri Lider, R&B singer Shiri Maimon and singer-songwriter Moshe Peretz.

Cowell created the original version of “The X Factor” for the UK and served as a judge for its first seven seasons before leaving to launch the U.S. version of the show, which is now produced in 56 territories around the world.

He was a judge on “The X Factor” in the U.S. for three seasons between 2011-13.

The show did not air in the UK in 2020 for the first time in 16 years.

Cowell also created “Britain’s Got Talent.”

He was replaced as a judge on “America’s Got Talent” earlier this year as he recovered from back surgery following an electric bike accident.

He is also working on a new competition series for CBS called “50 States to Stardom,” Deadline revealed in October.