Yahoo News Simon Cowell says America's Got Talent's "live shows are scheduled to take place this summer" despite the pandemic
Simon Cowell has revealed if America's Got Talent season 15 will continue amid the ongoing pandemic.
The talent show judge has confirmed he intends to work around the coronavirus lockdown until restrictions are lifted, with half of the the auditions already filmed before the restrictions were put in place and a few auditions provided via online submission.
He also confirmed that "the live shows are scheduled to take place this summer", revealing that there are "three different scenarios" dependent on health and safety advice.
"Anyone who we saw on that online component now can be considered to be one of the semi-finalists or finalists," he told People.
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"They're pretty much in the same position as the people who did regular auditions.
"The important thing was trying to make sure that the people we missed, as much as possible, were still given an opportunity to compete in the show."
Simon, who sits on the judging panel alongside Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Modern Family's Sofia Vergara, added: "We've worked out about three different scenarios for how we can shoot the live shows with or without an audience, or a limited audience. And each one of them creatively works.
"The most important thing is that we have to ensure that since people have auditioned, that they do get the chance safely to be able to compete as they normally do, and get that chance to win a million dollars, or at least appear in the final."
The Britain's Got Talent judge added: "So, we have been racking our brains, but I think that the creative solutions that we've come up with, I don't think are going to make the production or the show suffer.
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"It definitely gives people the opportunity to do what they would normally do every year, and to make sure that we follow through on our promise that they're going to compete.
"There will be finals, and there will be a winner. Someone's going to walk away with a million dollars."
America's Got Talent season 15 premieres on NBC on May 26. The series streams on Netflix in the UK.
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