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" Simon Cowell has admitted that he made a mistake recruiting his old American Idol colleague Paula Abdul for The X Factor USA.  The Syco boss said that hiring Abdul as a judge gave the debut season of his Fox show an air of complacency, which had been corrected by the &amp;quot;interesting&amp;quot; additions of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato.   &amp;quot;I think there was too much history with me and Paula,&amp;quot; Cowell told TV Guide. &amp;quot;I adore her... but it just felt like that relationship was too steeped in American Idol history.  &amp;quot;With these shows, you can never be complacent. Whenever we choose a panel, you&amp;#039;ve got to be interesting and you&amp;#039;ve got to know what a star is.&amp;quot; Cowell&amp;#039;s fellow panelist LA Reid added: &amp;quot;I think Simon really nailed it. In the time that I&amp;#039;ve spent with both Britney and Demi, I&amp;#039;m impressed with their ability to really identify greatness and talent.&amp;quot; Abdul described her time on The X Factor USA as &amp;quot;a blessing&amp;quot; when confirming her exit back in January.  Nicole Scherzinger, who now judges the UK version, and host Steve Jones also left after the first season. The X Factor USA premieres September 12 and September 13 at 8/7c on Fox. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor-us/news/a400831/simon-cowell-paula-abdul-relationship-hurt-x-factor-usa/>