Simon Cowell has firmly defended his latest Netflix series, insisting it's "all genuine" following accusations that he orchestrated the programme to promote his new boyband.
The X Factor mogul has made his return to television with Simon Cowell: The Next Act, a fresh talent search show that chronicles his journey assembling a new pop group through auditions with aspiring vocalists.
The programme resulted in the creation of boyband December 10, though Cowell has faced criticism for allegedly engineering the series as a platform to debut the group.
Speaking on The Rest is Entertainment podcast, presenter Richard Osman challenged Cowell directly: "What I thought I was going to watch was something with a bit more authenticity if that makes sense.
"You're so brilliant at controlling narrative and understanding what people want and understanding how to give it to them.
"I wondered if you exec-ing 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 though: 'I think you do know what's going to happen here'."
Cowell hit back by maintaining the programme's legitimacy, declaring: "No, Richard ... pinky promise I didn't. Absolutely didn't. I was in a bit of a bubble, I had a gut feeling that we had to check the numbers.
"I promise you it was all genuine, what you see is what happened. And there weren't any second takes."
Marina Hyde, the podcast's co-host, questioned Cowell about the inclusion of "bad" auditions in the Netflix series, asking: "But then why did we see some rather unfortunate less talented people?".
"Much in the way we always used to, in that sort of slight X Factor theatre of cruelty way, where we just laugh at them and you get to be rude to them.
"By the time of the edit, perhaps you didn't have to show the unfortunate untalented ones at all."
In response, Cowell defended the decision, arguing that the series is more authentic by showcasing a variety of auditions.
He clarified: "That is the reality with auditions, I've always gone with about half a percent of the people you see are gonna be good.
"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."