[Red Moon]

On the sofa with Simon Cowell

He's short, wears his trousers too high and is almost double my age. And his teeth aren't even his own.

Yet one hour and a signed photo later, I have to admit...I fancy Simon Cowell.

Flirty, confident and very complimentary, the TV boss tells me: "I'd love to make you the next X Factor judge. If anyone leaves the show, you're next."

Only Simon Cowell could get away with a chat-up line like that.

"For me, a woman's legs are the most important part of her body. And YOU have great legs." There he goes again.

I'm here to interview the 47-year-old about the X Factor final, but as soon as I walk into his dressing room, he gives me a kiss ... and leads me to the sofa.

"I can teach you how to sing, if you like," he offers. "I can't do it myself, but I can show you how." I thank him - but tell him I'm tone-deaf.

He's dressed in blue Gucci jeans and trademark black v-neck sweater. "I wear what I feel comfortable in," he says. "I don't have a favourite outfit and I most certainly don't have a pulling outfit."

I compliment him on his new haircut. He's impressed. "You're sharp," he tells me. I don't mention that I'd bumped into his hairdresser or that his new haircut is identical to his old one. I ask him about women.

"Brunettes over blondes any day," he says, looking straight at my dark brown hair. "I don't need to use chat up lines," he adds. "I just look at a girl and smile, and if she responds, that means she's interested." And there's an awful lot of smiling going on.

"I suppose I'm a bit of a flirt. but I just enjoy the company of women," he adds. "I've always been comfortable around them."

His girlfriend is Terri Seymour, a 33-year-old US-based TV presenter who has been dating him for five years.

"I don't do romantic," he says. "I don't do roses. And I cringe at the thought of Valentines Day. Terri understands." She does?

"Yes. We get on well and have a laugh. And that's much more important than fireworks."

How does Terri feels about him working so closely with sexy fellow judge Dannii Minogue.

"Oh they get on great," he claims.

"They've been out and have a real laugh together." Enough of other girls.

I want him to focus on me.

"You have nice teeth," he says. I return the compliment. "They aren't mine," he says referring to the veneers.

I ask if he's been working out.

"I just do a few push ups. But I'm also eating a lot better," he says, peeling a satsuma.

"I've cut out junk - the chocolate biscuits and crisps.

I smoke, and that's not good for me. So I try and keep myself healthy."

What about his plans are for Christmas? "I'm going to Barbados for three weeks," he says. "I'm taking my mum. That's what Christmas is all about."

A man who makes time for his family - and has a house in the Caribbean ... Terri is a lucky girl.

What's he buying her for Christmas? "Whatever she asks for."

A very lucky girl...

'The way Sharon blows up is wrong'

It's been one of the most competitive X Factors so far - and that's just the judges.

"I feel like Kofi Annan," Simon says when I mention the bickering. Sharon apparently doesn't like Dannii, Louis doesn't like Dannii because she doesn't like Sharon...

"People bicker," Simon says. "And they argue. We're not the Waltons. And I don't wanna be."

Sharon appeared on Graham Norton's show recently, pointing at her bum when she described Dannii's face, saying, "Dannii is only on the show because of her looks."

Simon looks frustrated. "You see a grown-up Sharon behaving like this in public. I think it's wrong. Certain things should be done behind closed doors - the limelight shouldn't be taken from the contestants. I wish Sharon would ask my advice before she does things instead of trying to deal with it herself." But Sharon's always been her own boss.

"Sharon would be the first to admit that we've had a turbulent relationship over the last three or four years, but I've got to know her a lot better this year." And Dannii?

"We get on great. I feel incredibly comfortable around her. I was intrigued as to whether or not she could do the job. She's done a ton of songs, movies, Grease and

Home and Away. That's exactly the sort of experience you need to be a judge.

"And she's worked harder with the artists than anyone else. She did 20-hour days." So what about Louis?

"I like him. He can be annoying in the same way a mosquito in your room is annoying.

But at the end of the day, he's very good at what he does."

And will all the judges be coming back next time?

"A hundred per cent ... if they can get on."

Source: Daily Mirror