Pop Idol, Fame Academy et al.
This is a bit of a half memory I believe Simon would have preferred Ant and Dec for X-Factor in an ideal world, but with the live shows clashing with I'm a Celeb, it was a bit of a no-brainer for them.
There was a series of Takeaway during the first series of The X Factor in 2004, and I remember one of the stunts on Takeaway involved someone going from their audience at LWT to The X Factor audience at Fountain.
They did yes. It was about a Kylie fan who was at The X Factor and Kylie was on Takeaway that night.