Was I asked to be the Mr Nasty? Oh yes, before Simon Cowell (I suggested him when I turned it down); before Nasty Nigel (my Producer on The Record of the Year Show); before Gary Barlow (very nice guy and very talented; I like him a lot).

Was I asked to be in this year's Celebrity Big Brother? Oy yes ("not in a million years" was my polite reply).

Have I been asked to be on I'm A Celebrity? Yes (I said no).

My favourite recent (rejected) request was to be on Wife Swap! (Really!!).

So far the current series of XF is not good.

Interesting how contestants all say "I want to be famous" and few say "I want to be good"... which is why winners are almost all bad photocopies - the only exception being Will Young (one of my most played holiday tracks was Leave Right Now - superb).

I love George, the real "rioter" attitude but most of all love ITV and X Factor illustrating that "it's a good story" is all that counts and screw the ramifications (hundreds dead after riots and arson - we know why; thank you media; great story).

Surely Pete Waterman was the original Mr Nasty? I remember Simon Cowell being very much the placid gimp in the early "Pop Idol" series.

Yes - I was asked to be the Mr Nasty on the first series of Pop Stars; turned it down; recommended Simon (who turned it down); then Nigel did it himself; Simon came up (over dinner with me) with the format for Pop Idol (asking my "permission" to use the phone in gimmick I'd used in both Eurovision and Record of the Year) and the rest is history.