Whoa, this rumor came out of nowhere! Mirror UK is claiming that Simon Cowell has landed a major judge for his X Factor US show with Will Smith joining him at the judges table.

Previous news has indicated Simon’s UK co-judge, Cheryl Cole, has already signed on but this would be an incredible shift in the direction of very popular US celebrities. Considering most Americans would shrug at Cole’s name I’d say anyone more popular over here would be a good choice to draw in more viewers.

Also of note is that Mirror UK claims Smith to be judge #3 of 4 which leaves one spot open. Considering how well a 4-judge panel worked on last season of American Idol (read: not well) I’d expect him to stick to his magic formula of 3 for X Factor. 4 judges could just be another rumor.

Of course the bigger topic here is whether or not that Will Smith on X Factor rumor could be true. Quite honestly, I’d be shocked if this were true. Considering Smith pulls over $20 million per movie, imagine just how expensive he’d be to hire for an entire season of the show. Not only that but Will Smith is a bigger name than Simon Cowell, so who would believe that Mr. Ego would be willing to share the spotlight on premiere night of his big, new show? Yeah, me neither…


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