Gary Barlow to steal Simon Cowell’s crown?

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Gary Barlow is set to spark a pop reality TV show war with current king Simon Cowell.

The Take That star is set to rival Simon Cowell's The X Factor with his own BBC pop reality TV show, which is expected to hunt for a new boy band.

Gary – a singer-songwriter whose band, Take That, reformed in 2006 – came up with the idea after setting up his own music label, backed by Universal – the rival of Simon’s label Sony BMG.

Barlow first offered his idea to ITV, who he worked with on last year’s Britannia High, but they turned him down for fear of upsetting Simon – their £20 million star.

So the 37-year-old singer took the concept to the BBC – who reportedly fell in love with it.

A BBC source told TV Biz: ‘Gary is really keen to get into TV and has come up with a cracking idea. We’ve got high hopes for it. If it gets off the ground it could be something we do every year.’

And Gary recently revealed his desire to ‘do a Simon’. He told The Sun: ‘I will do what he has done — but my way.’

Ooh, that’s fighting talk!

Thursday 8 January 2009

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