Ortise Williams is making plans for his own TV show with the help of Simon Cowell.
Oritse Williams teases plans for a new show with Simon Cowell
The 36-year-old singer met music mogul Simon, 63, when he auditioned for his ITV1 talent competition 'The X Factor' in 2008 as part of boy band JLS and has hailed the TV judge as an "inspiration" as he teased that the pair of them had spoken "many times" about the idea of making a show together.
He told The Sun newsaper's Bizarre column: "I’ve always thought of different ideas of making my own show. Simon and I have a good relationship. We talk every year pretty much and obviously he was an inspiration to our whole music world. So to be able to create something that has such an impact and such a movement will be unbelievable. We have spoken about many ideas, that’s all I’ll say.”
During the original run of 'The X Factor', Simon discovered acts such as JLS - who placed second to 'Hallelujah' songstress Alexandra Burke - as well as 'Starstruck' host Olly Murs, West End star Diana Vickers and put together the billion dollar boyband One Direction before returning the format in 2018 after 14 years on air.
However, just weeks ago, it was reported that Channel 5 were "keen" to secure a big-money deal with him in the hopes of starting a "new chapter" in the talent show genre.
An insider said: "This would be a huge move for Simon, who carved out a TV career based on 'BGT' and 'X Factor' on Channel 5’s rival station. It would effectively see him turn his back on ITV after two decades which have seen him deliver them two of their biggest hits. There’s a strong sense that one chapter is ending and another beginning and Channel 5 are keen to be a part of that. But they’d need to nail down a seven-figure contract to seal the deal to bring him across."
Tagged in Diana Vickers Oritse Williams One Direction