Lots of words have been used to describe Simon Cowell. But since the American Idol judge is raking in dough as a music and television producer of artists and shows located all around the world, jealous probably wouldn't be one of them. That is apparently until now.
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"If someone I know is doing better than me I get incredibly miserable," Cowell continued. "A lot of my friends are extremely wealthy, but I'm not envious of their money, however, I'm never pleased if they have a hit show. I don't go to bed thinking, 'I'm really happy their show is doing so well.' It annoys me that it wasn't my idea."
Cowell's comments come on the heels of the finales for both Idol's sixth season and Dancing with the Stars' fourth installment.
An average of 30.7 million total viewers watched 17-year-old Glendale, AZ-native Jordin Sparks become Idol 6's champion during Fox's live two-hour finale broadcast that also scored an 11.5/31 rating/share in the Adults 18-49 demographic on Wednesday, May 23. The previous night, ABC's Dancing with the Stars' 4 finale -- which saw two-time Olympic gold medalist speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno and his professional partner Julianne Hough capture the mirror ball trophy -- averaged 23 million total viewers and a 6.7/17 rating/share among Adults 18-49.
However The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman's After the Final Rose special served as a lead-in for Dancing with the Stars 4 finale on that Tuesday night, and ABC was actually able to outdraw Fox and finish first among average viewers during the final Tuesday night of the May sweeps ratings period. Although Fox's Tuesday night broadcast of Idol's final sixth-season performance episode performed well in the 8PM ET/PT hour, On the Lot's debut didn't do anywhere near as well in the 9PM ET/PT time period, resulting in the two shows combining for a full-night average of 16.8 million total viewers.
Fox's 16.8 million total viewers average fell well short of the 18 million total viewers that ABC's After the Final Rose special and Dancing with the Stars finale averaged on the night -- allowing ABC to become the first network ever to average more viewers than Fox during a Tuesday night Idol broadcast since the megahit show first became part of Fox's regular season schedule in 2003.
Although he's green with envy over Dancing with the Stars's fourth-season ratings success, Cowell knows enough about the entertainment industry to know he could be feeling something a lot worse than some jealousy.
"That's how it should be - when you lose your competitive edge, you're over," he told Digital Spy.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
