Simon Says

Simon Cowell was his usual forthright British accented self when talking to Laura Saltman during an interview for AccessHollywood.com. Talking at length about various topics during the interview, Simon gave his views on David Hasselhoff, judge of America’s Got Talent, the NBC show for which he is the executive producer; American Idol judge Paula Abdul; and of course, who he felt would be the next American Idol.

Talking about Hasselhoff, Simon said the man was like Paula from American Idol. In a jovial mood, Simon laughed as he said, after looking around, about Hasselhoff, “Actually I do [think he is the Paula of the show]. He’s not around is he? He is, in so much, that he’s very unpredictable.”

Talking further about Hasselhoff, Simon said, “He’s incredibly emotional and you never quite know what’s going to come out of his mouth, but there’s a good heart with David. He is genuinely one of the kindest nicest people. Massive ego, always thinks he’s right, but he’s a nice person.”

Simon also touched on what made Paula Abdul critique Jason Castro for a song he was yet to perform last week on American Idol. “I was actually laughing on the night. The true story behind it is that they told us when the show started that we weren’t going to comment on their first song. I told them in no uncertain terms, this is absolutely the wrong thing to do,” he said.

Simon was quite worked up about what the producers had asked them to do and aired his thoughts, in his usual candid manner, to Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer of American Idol.

Simon also could not help touching another hot topic – who the eventual winner of American Idol would be, according to him. His vote was clear on this one. It was definitely not going to be Syesha, according to him and his crystal ball apparently predicted the two finalists would be David Archuleta and David Cook.

Speaking about the possible American Idol winner this year, Simon said, “Let me tell you who isn’t going to win — Syesha, [is] unlikely to win. I think it’s going to be between David Cook and David Archuleta. What I like is them in the final; I genuinely think it will be decided on what they sing on the night, so that makes it interesting.”

When it comes to Simon, diplomacy is the last thing you expect and he was equally candid in his assessment of the chances the two Davids had of winning on the big day. According to him, David Archuleta held a slight edge from the voters’ perspective, as his fan base stretched across all age groups, from kids to grannies. The most riveting performer during the season had been, however, David Cook, he said.