X Factor to celebrate Olympic & Paralympic heroes

X Factor to celebrate Olympic & Paralympic heroes
X Factor to celebrate Olympic & Paralympic heroes (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Simon Cowell has revealed plans to honour Britain's Olympic and Paralympic heroes on The X Factor. The pop supremo said he will invite athletes to one of the live shows of the hit TV series after a spectacular summer of sport at London 2012. Cowell described swimming sensation Ellie Simmonds as 'a star' after her heroics in the pool at the Paralympic Games. And the 52-year-old said viewers would have to 'wait and see' whether Team GB stars Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis would appear as mentors on the ITV1 programme. Cowell told 5 News: "I think we're going to do something around the Olympics on one of the live shows so they're all welcome. We like having heroes on our shows." Britain's Olympic and Paralympic teams have been cheered on by sell-out crowds throughout London 2012 - as the nation takes both sets of Games to its heart. Up to 2.5 million tickets for the Paralympics are expected to have been sold by the end of the Games, and record TV audiences have prompted Channel 4 to clear its day-time schedule to boost coverage. Nearly three million people tuned in to see Simmonds smash the world record to win gold in a sensational 400m freestyle race. And after winning gold in the SM6 200m medley, the 17-year-old tonight received her third medal of London 2012 - getting bronze in the 50m freestyle.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.