It was originally announced that he would be a judge both on the UK and US editions of the show, which aired at similar times of the year, but MTV officially reported on 17 April 2011 that this was not true: Cowell was no longer to be a judge on the UK version, but would remain a major presence backstage.
Awalnya diumumkan bahwa dia akan menjadi juri di edisi Inggris dan AS acara ini, yang tayang hampir di waktu yang sama di tahun itu, tetapi MTV secara resmi melaporkan pada tanggal 17 April 2011 bahwa berita ini tidak benar: Cowell tidak lagi menjadi juri di versi Inggris, tetapi akan tetap berperan utama di belakang panggung.