X Factor winner Matt Terry has accused Simon Cowell of “humiliating people” after the music mogul claimed contestants “only wanted fame” on the ITV talent show.
Terry, who won The X Factor in 2016, spoke out in a lengthy video in which he reflected on the emotional toll of appearing on the programme, admitting he “felt like a failure” and “didn’t want to wake up” after his victory failed to turn him into a “global superstar.”
@matttterry To clear up how I feel about it all now. #fyp #xfactor ♬ original sound - Matt Terry
Simon Cowell came under fire last month after being questioned about duty-of-care protocols on The X Factor, during which he said a “vast majority” of contestants “got what they wanted, which was fame and money.”
Responding to those remarks, Terry questioned Cowell’s claims, saying he needed to “take accountability” and arguing that it “wasn’t obvious” to him — or to many contestants — that they would be exposed to such intense national scrutiny.
He also revealed that he has undergone “two years of therapy” to rebuild his mental health following his appearance on the show.
In his three-minute video, Terry said: “Simon Cowell has basically done The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, and I just saw a clip where he says that people that have been on this show have it in for him because it didn’t quite work out for them, and that we got what we wanted, which was fame and money.”
He continued: “I went on X Factor because I was a very young person with a dream, and I just wanted to sing and be an artist, and whatever came with that is secondary, and something I would deal with.”
“Never once did I think about being famous, never once did I think that I would make money, and it’s not that obvious, and I think it’s just really unfair to say — for example, yes, it’s obvious to Simon, who has been in the industry for years — but someone like me, who had £4 to my name if we’re gonna talk about money.”
Terry added: “I feel… I didn’t go on there for that, I went on there for my dream, and to hear that hurts. And I’m not having it.”
He went on to acknowledge Cowell’s wider impact on the industry, while still criticising the show’s treatment of contestants.
“The thing is, there’s two truths,” Terry said. “He’s done great things for many people, charities he works with, he has changed people’s lives and made them big stars — that’s amazing — but we also have to acknowledge that he’s humiliated… well, the show that he created, along with other people, has humiliated people.”
Simon Cowell's new boy band is facing a bitter legal battle over its name.
He launched his search for the next big boy band in his Netflix documentary, The Next Act, last week. After months of auditions, Simon chose the seven singers he hopes will make him a huge success again after X-Factor icons, One Direction, achieved stratospheric fame.
However, after choosing his new group's name, December 10 - which was the date the Netflix show launched - he found out there is another group called December Tenth - and they're not happy. The Scottish heavy metal rockers from Glasgow - who picked their name from the date their pen pal was executed on death row - have urged Simon's legal team to get in touch.
In a post on social media the lead singer of the band said: “It came to light over the last few days that Simon Cowell, Netflix and Universal Music, are involved in a new boy band that share, to some extent, our name December Tenth.
"Now if anyone in Simon’s team, Universal or Netflix, would like to get in touch with ourselves and our legal team they can do so.
“I would like to point out, the hundreds of new followers we have over the last few days are most welcome, but I’m not entirely sure they are all genuine.”
The band, who formed in 2020, have also been flooded with messages online from fans, who mistakenly thought they were Simon's new stars.
Simon Cowell’s involvement has inevitably drawn intense attention to the dispute, given his long and influential history of creating chart-topping pop acts. Best known as the architect behind The X Factor, Cowell helped shape the modern boyband formula, blending reality television with commercial pop success. His most famous creation, One Direction, was formed during the 2010 series of the show and went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world, selling tens of millions of records and dominating charts globally before going on hiatus in 2016.
Cowell has also played a central role in launching other hugely successful groups, including Westlife, who were formed in Ireland under his management in the late 1990s and went on to score a record-breaking run of number-one singles. Through his record label Syco, Cowell built a reputation for turning televised auditions into lucrative pop careers, often with carefully branded group identities designed to appeal to a global audience.
That legacy has followed him into The Next Act, which Netflix billed as a behind-the-scenes look at Cowell’s attempt to recreate pop magic in a streaming-era landscape. With Universal Music involved and a global platform backing the project, the naming dispute has taken on added weight, particularly as branding and intellectual property are central to any modern music launch.
