Simon Cowell Coming Back To America, Will Replace Howard Stern On ‘America’s Got Talent’

Were you missing Simon Cowell‘s hairy chest on your television screen every week? Well, we have some wonderful news for you. The 56-year-old talent magnet will be joining season 11 of America’s Got Talent. He will be replacing Howard Stern.

Cowell is the creator/executive producer of the Got Talent series (which is now worldwide) so this announcement shouldn’t be too surprising. In fact, Cowell was offered the chance to come on as a judge several years ago, but his schedule wouldn’t allow it at the time.

That’s when Howard Stern stepped in. “For the years (Howard) was on the show, he did a great job. I think at the point we really knew Howard wasn’t going to come back, we then had serious conversations with NBC.” Cowell told USA Today. Adding that he’s super excited and believes this is the right time to join.

This will be the first time Cowell has been a judge on an American TV series since his experiment with The X Factor failed back in 2013.

Chairman of NBC Entertainment, Robert Greenblatt, released the following statement…

Simon knows this format better than anyone and he’s been producing the show with us since the beginning, so we’re thrilled to have him to step in front of the camera and take his rightful place at the head of the judges’ panel. We welcome him to the on-screen NBC family.

Even though the audience in America has seen Cowell judge before, they’ve only seen him judge singing acts. On America’s Got Talent, he’ll be judging all kinds of strange acts, which means the brutal insults will be even more hilarious and creative. It should make for some entertaining moments.

In addition to adding Cowell, the show will likely move away from New York. It was only based there for Howard Stern, but now that he’s leaving it will probably move back to Los Angeles.

What about the other judges? Will Howie and Mel B return? No one knows for sure, but just from the way Cowell is talking, I have a feeling he won’t be the only new addition.

I have no idea. I know them all. I think they’ve done a great job. … I thought we’d let the dust settle and then we’ll meet everyone who’s on the show and then we’ll make some decisions.