Music mogul Simon Cowell has hinted his time as an American Idol
judge may soon come to an end - because viewers will start to tire of
him.

The acid-tongued Brit insists the reality show will not suffer in his
absence, and could even get better.

He says, "The public eventually are gonna get sick to death of me.
Nine years is probably enough to inflict on anyone.

"Can the show exist without me? Absolutely. It would probably get
better."

Simon Cowell has spoken out about past American Idol contestants
Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard and Katharine McPhee losing their record
deals, blaming the unpredictability of the music industry for their
disastrous album sales.

Singer McPhee became the latest star to be dropped by her record
label, RCA Records - a subsidiary of Sony BMG - in the space of three
weeks on Wednesday (09Jan08), after poor sales of her latest self-
titled release.

But Cowell insists artists cannot get too comfortable just because
they're signed to a big label.

He says, "It's a reflection on the unpredictability of the record
business.

Fortunately, we got it right more than we got it wrong.

"There's no scientific way to explain what happens. It's a reality
show and what happens at the end is also reality."

And the judge is hoping the winner of the upcoming series will
release a more promising debut album than 2007 winner Jordin Sparks
and runner-up Blake Lewis, who both failed to score number one hits.

He adds, "Naturally, I'm disappointed that they didn't sell more
copies or that neither artist has caught on fire. What you want (is)
a Carrie (Underwood), Daughtry or Kelly Clarkson, where they're
competing with the Mariahs. It didn't happen.

"Am I surprised? Not particularly. The public decided it's not
necessarily what they wanted, so we have to try to do better this
year."