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Music producer and TV personality Simon Cowell has poached singer Alesha Dixon, pictured below, from hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing to judge alongside him on Britain’s Got Talent, which airs on the rival ITV channel.
Dixon’s switch is the latest salvo in a fierce ratings battle pitting Cowell’s ITV shows The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent against the publicly-owned BBC which airs Strictly Come Dancing.
The competition is likely to intensify in 2012 with the launch on BBC of The Voice UK, a singing talent show due to start in the spring featuring Tom Jones and will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas among its coaches.
“I love Alesha,” Cowell said of Dixon, who rose to prominence by winning Strictly Come Dancing as a contestant before becoming a judge.
“She is feisty, opinionated and knows what it’s like to be both a competitor and judge on a hugely popular TV show.”
Cowell will hope the judging lineup of himself, Dixon, Amanda Holden and comedian David Walliams will be enough to maintain big audiences and advertising revenue for ITV.
The 52-year-old, who also recently launched a version of The X Factor in America, suffered the ignominy last year of seeing his flagship X Factor show regularly beaten by Strictly in viewing figures.
