Cowell attacks his own show

Pop mogul Simon Cowell has criticised his own ITV show Grease is the Word for being too similar to other programmes.

And he conceded that critics were right to have "slaughtered" the show as it mimics The X Factor and the BBC shows How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do which feature Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Simon said: "Grease is the Word is not going as well as I had hoped.

"It has been slaughtered by the critics and rightly so. It is far too similar to our other formats."

The Saturday night show, fronted by Zoe Ball and featuring David Gest, is looking for the perfect Danny and Sandy to take on the roles immortalised by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in a new stage production to hit the West End.

But Simon is unlikely to be too disheartened as earlier this week he netted £100 million by selling his US show America's Got Talent around the world.

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