Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell (theinsider.com)

It’s a rumor came true.

After being hinted by his brother Tony on a radio show late last year, Simon Cowell has officially announced that he is leaving the hit Fox show, American Idol, when his contract ends after the 2010 season. So that means, this year will be the last American Idol with the 50-year-old sarcastic commentator.

Cowell made the departure announcement on Monday at Fox’s Winter Television Critics’ Association press event at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, California. He said that he felt like doing something different, and like the challenge. He will leave American Idol with big hopes, “I’ve always said this was my last year. Everyone thought I was negotiating, but that wasn’t the reason behind it. I I want to leave Idol this year, bigger and better than it’s been before…I hope it’s going to be higher than it was last year.”

Post Idol, Cowell will judge and produce an American version of his British hit music show, The X Factor, on Fox in Fall 2011. As a solid and dramatic confirmation of the new show, Cowell signed his X Factor contract live onstage in front of all reporters.

Fox said it had no replacement yet for the British music executive. Media speculation has focused on America’s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, who is also British, and singer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Host Ryan Seacrest is also rumored with a double duty as a host and judge at the same time. Meanwhile, when asked about who should be his replacement, Cowell replied, “Just get somebody who knows what they’re talking about.”

Speaking of The X Factor, the new show made its debut in Britain in 2004 and has since been exported to 16 other nations. It’s different from American Idol, because The X Factor allows contestants as young as 14, does not have an upper age limit, allows groups, has different categories, and has the judges serving as mentors. In 2006, British version of The X Factor discovered Leona Lewis, who then had an international hit with Bleeding Love.

American Idol won’t be the same without you, Simon. So… will you still be watching American Idol without Simon Cowell?

[ via Yahoo! News ]