Simon Cowell responded to critics who claimed new Netflix talent series The next act the show that featured the boyband on December 10 seemed scripted.
December 10, consisting of Cruz, Danny, Hendrick, John, Josh, Nicolas and Sean, released their first music video this week.
This sparked further debate over how the group was formed on Cowell’s show.
On The rest is entertainment podcast, host Richard Osman questioned the “authenticity” of the show.
“What I thought I was watching was something a little more authentic if that makes sense,” the American Idol judge said.
“You’re so good at controlling the narrative, understanding what people want and understanding how to give it to them.
“I was wondering if running this show meant we were lacking any real authenticity, because I felt like a few times you were saying ‘oh, that’s a big deal, oh, I don’t know what’s going to happen here’ and I thought ‘I think you know what’s going to happen here’.”
The 66-year-old pushed back firmly, saying: “No, Richard… I promise I didn’t do it. Absolutely not… I promise you it was all genuine, what you see is what happened. And there was no second take.”
Co-host Marina Hyde also raised eyebrows at the inclusion of “bad auditions”, comparing them to the “theatre of cruelty” seen on The X factor.
Cowell insisted that showing both strong and weak performers was part of the reality of auditions.
“But that’s the reality with auditions, I always thought about half a percent of the people you see would be good,” Cowell shared.
“So there were some people who weren’t very good. So I guess it was a decision to show the people who were there and some of them weren’t very good.”
