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Simon Cowell predicts One Direction reunion in five years and shuts down rumours of a Little Mix grudge

Ian West/PA Archive/PA Images
Ian West/PA Archive/PA Images

Simon Cowell has revealed he believes One Direction will reunite in five years.

The music mogul, 60, signed the four piece to his record label Syco after they finished in third place on the X Factor.

Since they went on hiatus in 2016, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson have all had successful solo careers.

Former member Zayn Malik, who left the group the year before, has also seen success.

Music mogul: Simon Cowell with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden (Global)
Music mogul: Simon Cowell with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden (Global)

But Cowell revealed he feels the band will get back together soon.

Speaking on Heart Breakfast with Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston about a possible reunion, Cowell said: “My gut feeling is yes. I mean they’re all doing great solo wise at the moment but they’ve had a lot of hits.

“So they could do tour after tour after tour. You know you could sell out a One Direction Stadium tour in about twenty seconds. So yeah, I would say within five years. That’s only a guess. Not that I know, it’s only a guess.”

Cowell also denied holding a grudge against Little Mix after he announced he is launching another version of the X Factor to rival the girl group’s upcoming talent show.

He previously said he will premiere X Factor: The Band to find all-male and all-female groups.

It will be a direct rival to The Search, the talent show set to be launched by Little Mix on BBC One next year.

Cowell told the Heart hosts he always wanted to launch a group version of the X Factor in the UK and fast-tracked the project.

He said: “We have worked together for 14 years. It’s the same with music, radio, TV. Sometimes you have just got to do something quick.

Little Mix: The band are launching a television show next year (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
Little Mix: The band are launching a television show next year (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

“I have a group show which I launched in America four or five years ago. We had always decided to do a group show in the UK.

“We had agreed with ITV that we were going to do the X Factor groups in 2020. That was all fine. Then we were going to do the all-stars version this year.

“Then when we found out that the Little Mix show was going to go out in 2020 I didn’t want to follow their show since we had already planned it years ago.

“I thought, well, we will just bring it forward. Simple as that. It wasn’t like some grudge against Little Mix or whatever, because I owe those girls a lot.

“Even though we gave them a launch pad, they sold a lot of records. I thought their idea was a great idea but sometimes you want to be the first one to do it.”

Little Mix stars Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall won the 2011 series of the X Factor as a group having been formed on the show after originally auditioning as solo singers.

They were previously signed to Syco but left the label last year.

Tune in to Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden weekdays from 6:30am to 10:00am.

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