It’s time to face the music, The X Factor will not return to our screens until 2022 at the earliest, according to the show’s presenter.
Dermot O’Leary sat down with Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and voiced his frustration that the show has not set a return date for its next series, saying it won’t likely be back for another year.
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“If I knew, I’d tell you, because I’d be happy. I’ve no idea,” he said.
The show has been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the series involves mass gatherings of people for open public auditions and arenas packed with a large-scale audience. With the current restrictions, it would make it difficult to film.
“It’s got the turning circle of a car ferry. There’s a lot of planning that goes into it,” Dermot said. “It definitely won’t be next year, so it will probably be back in 2022.”
Dermot mentioned he has spoken to show boss Simon Cowell and went on to say he’s slowly getting better after breaking his back in August.
After iffy ratings in 2019, the regular version of the show was replaced with X Factor: Celebrity, seeing D-list celebrities come to the UK to sing for a chance to win a recording contract. The series saw reality stars, actors, journalists and other presenters all sing for the win but TOWIE’s Meghan McKenna was the winner.
X Factor: The Band followed that series as Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger auditioned members of the public to look for the next big boy or girl band. The series concluded with a girl band being awarded a record contract.
ITV recently recommissioned the series for another run in the current contract.