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X Factor host Steve Jones’ representative says a report that he will be cut from the show is ‘a fabrication’ and that there have been no talks about his exit, writes Kimberly Potts.
The British newspaper the Daily Mirror reports that Fox plans to rearrange the show by not renewing Jones’ contract. It quoted an anonymous source who said: “He got terrible reviews from critics when he started and things haven’t got better,” and that he is all but certain to be gone from the show next season.
“The Mirror story is a fabrication that we would have corrected had we been called for comment,” Jones’ publicist said in a statement. “There have been absolutely no conversations about Steve Jones leaving The X Factor. Steve is very happy with the outcome of this season and he looks forward to being back and discovering more talent in the new year.”
A Fox representative, added that the network has no comment on Jones’ status with The X Factor, and a representative for Cowell’s Syco Entertainment called the story ‘pure speculation’.
Meanwhile, winner Melanie Amaro said she was shocked at her victory but believed that singing from her heart had given her the edge over her rivals in the TV contest.
Amaro’s triumph also gave broadcaster Fox a ratings win, with Thursday’s two-hour finale bringing in 12.4 million viewers, making X Factor the most-watched show of the night on US television.
The 19-year-old from Florida won a $5 million recording contract, but said she was going to keep details of her first album a secret. “I am going to keep everyone guessing as to what is going to come out, so people will go get it and they will be amazed,” she said on a conference call.
But she said she planned to spend some of her winnings on a foot massager and a new house for her mother.
“I feel as though I am in a dream. I feel as though this is not real ... I was so thrilled to have won and so shocked.”
Amaro’s powerhouse vocals had made her a front-runner since her first audition for the show. But she was cut from the competition’s early rounds, only to be later reinstated by X Factor creator Simon Cowell, in what TV watchers widely considered a manufactured drama to hype interest in the show’s first season on US TV.
Fox has already renewed X Factor for a second season but media speculation is rife over whether judge Nicole Scherzinger will be returning in 2012.
