Simon Cowell responds to ‘staged’ December 10 show accusation

Simon Cowell answered critics who claimed the new Netflix talent series The Next Act show which introduced boyband December 10 felt scripted.

December 10 which is made up of Cruz, Danny, Hendrick, John, Josh, Nicolas, and Sean released their first music video this week.

It sparked renewed debate about how the group was formed on Cowell’s show.

On The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, host Richard Osman questioned the show’s ‘authenticity’.

“What I thought I was going to watch was something with a bit more authenticity if that makes sense,” said the American Idol judge.

“You’re so brilliant at controlling narrative and understanding what people want and understanding how to give it to them.

“I wondered if you execing that show meant that we missed out on some genuine authenticity, as I felt a number of times where you were saying ‘oh this is a big problem, oh I don’t know what’s gonna happen here’ and I thought ‘I think you do know what’s going to happen here’.”

The 66-year-old pushed back firmly stating, “No, Richard… pinky promise I didn’t. Absolutely didn’t… I promise you it was all genuine, what you see is what happened. And there weren’t any second takes.”

Co‑host Marina Hyde also raised eyebrows over the inclusion of “bad auditions,” likening them to the “theatre of cruelty” seen on The X Factor.

Cowell insisted that showing both strong and weak performers was part of the reality of auditions.

“But that is the reality with auditions, I’ve always gone with about half a percent of the people you see are gonna be good,” share Cowell.

“So there were some not so good people. So I guess it was a decision to show the people that turned up and some of them weren’t very good.”