Next weekend, the search begins to find a new Pop Idol. The series which made millionaire pop stars out of Will Young and Gareth Gates returns to ITV on Saturday with another batch of unknown wannabes hoping to make the big time.

At the end of Pop Idol 2, at least one of them will win a recording contract that is virtually guaranteed to make them rich and famous overnight.

But the real winner in this slice of reality television won't be any of the young girls and boys who will have to endure weeks of humiliation in their desperate bid for stardom.

It will be Simon Cowell, the man that television audiences loved to hate when he delivered his stinging criticisms as one of the judges on the first Pop Idol series.

The record music producer devised the show with fellow music industry boss Simon Fuller, the man who discovered the Spice Girls, and has already made a small fortune out of it and its U.S. TV spin-off, American Idol.

With a reputed £30 million already in the bank, Fuller has just signed a deal with the Fox TV network to host three more series of the American show. One report claims that he is being paid £30 million, another says £45million.

'It's somewhere between the two,' he says, without a trace of humility.

'Yes, I'll make more money than any of the contestants on these shows and some of them may have a problem with that, but they are getting what they want out of it, too.

'I've never been embarrassed by what I earn. Money is something we all strive for and brings more happiness than unhappiness.'

Simon certainly enjoys the trappings of wealth. He has just bought a new house in London's fashionable Holland Park and is about to buy a mansion in Los Angeles. He is also having a house built on the exclusive Palm development in Dubai.

At 42, he need never worry about money again. Yet, 12 years ago, he was bankrupt.

The mother company of the firm that I was working for went bust,' he explains. 'As employees, we had been encouraged to buy shares. I lost everything. I had to sell my house and my car and moved back in with my parents at the age of 30.

'I had just £3 in my pocket but it didn't bother me because I've always lived within my means. I didn't need a flash car to prove that I was worth something.'

And yet, being wealthy and successful is clearly of paramount importance to him.

Born to Eric, a director of the board at EMI records - where Simon worked in the post room when he was 17 - and Julie, a dancer, Simon and his younger brother Nicholas enjoyed an affluent upbringing.

From a young age, Simon was no stranger to fame or success.

Brought up in a part of Berkshire known as the English Hollywood, their next- door neighbour ran MGM Studios and the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Mitchum were constant visitors.

And as a forthcoming fly on the wall documentary, Being Simon Cowell which will be screened after the first edition of Pop Idol 2, reveals, there are still times when a childish persona comes to the fore.

The documentary, which covers his six-month stint in the U.S. judging American Idol, at one point reveals Cowell having a temper tantrum when he discovers that the show's host has a far more lavish dressing room than him.

In another scene, Simon admits that he is never happy because he is never satisfied with his achievements, and says that his constant striving for success and inability to be contented with his lot has been a lifelong problem.

'Even as a kid I was always the one to throw the Monopoly board up in the air rather than pay the money if I landed on Park Lane. I have always hated losing,' he says.

'I found being in my 20s a frustrating and miserable time. I always wanted to be more successful than anybody else and I didn't realise how obsessive I was becoming until I was in my 30s,' he says.

'Now that I'm in my 40s, it's even worse, but I've come to terms with it. It is a rather sad thing to admit, but I've had to accept that other people's success can make me unhappy.'

This competitive streak and insecurity seems to have spilled over into his love life.

He has boasted of having had between 70 and 100 girlfriends, admits to having stolen his friends' girlfriends and has a penchant for models and lap dancers considerably younger than himself.

He is clearly a commitment-phobe although his current relationship, with 30-year-old model and TV presenter Terri Seymour, has lasted for nine months.

Prior to that, his longest relationship was for two years with the singer Sinitta. He has never married but was engaged a few years ago to a model.

'There are a lot of celebrities out there who make a very good living out of being perceived as family men and they are not. I despise that. If you are going to sleep around, then admit it. I love women. I adore them. I've always been comfortable in their company and I think that's why some people think I'm gay.

'If you were to sit down with a number of my ex-girlfriends they would tell you that I'm not just someone who is there for them at a particular moment in time. They have always known that, whatever happened to them, I would always be there for them.'

So is his current relationship The One? And is he capable of fidelity?

'Everyone gets tempted, but I think that if you are going to be unfaithful it's because you want to break the relationship up. I respect Terri and I like her, so there doesn't seem any point in being unfaithful to her.

'As for marriage, I'm not violently opposed to it, but I am a bit cynical. If I'm with somebody for a period of time then that's great, but if I'm not with anybody it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

'So there is a part of me that thinks, if you are happy, then what are you missing? Certainly not marriage. And I've never wanted kids, so why change anything?'

Yet despite this somewhat selfish and immature take on life, Simon does have one redeeming feature, apart from his considerable charm. It is the fact that he doesn't take himself seriously.

In America, he is a national TV hero. What people took for downright nastiness when he judged the British version of Pop Idol, American audiences view as honesty and seem to love him for it. Time Magazine even put him on the front cover.

Yet Simon is as dismissive of the accolade as he is of Pop Idol contestants. 'I take that with a pinch of salt,' he says.

Indeed, for all his perceived pretensions, Simon has his feet very much on the ground.

When in Britain, Simon spends most weekends with his mother, now in her mid-70s, who lives in Brighton. He still phones her every day. His father died four years ago from a heart attack.

'His death was the worst day of my life. It made me aware of my mortality and it taught me that, no matter how much you drive yourself, you've still got to set aside some time every day to enjoy yourself because you never know how long you've got left.'

He returns next week as a judge on Pop Idol 2, Simon intends to be just as caustic as ever and makes no apologies for the fact.

'Believe it nor not, I am not malicious for the sake of it. I know from my own experience how tough it is to be successful in the music business and at some point you have to have a dose of reality.

'It is better to be honest from the outset than to build up people's hopes, falsely.'

And almost as if to get in training for next Saturday, he offers a few bons mots about last year's winner Will Young and his co-presenter, Geri Halliwell.

'I don't think there's much love lost between me and Will. I don't dislike him, I just think Gareth Gates is better.

'And I do think Will should cheer up a bit. He's earned more than a million quid so he should stop being so miserable.

'As for Geri, she is probably the worst role model on earth. She was in the right place at the right time when the Spice Girls were being formed.

'She was a useful part of that group, but her talent is well below average. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to know it.'

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