Simon Cowell's cold war with Little Mix is set to shift from the music world to the airwaves.
The X Factor mogul fell out with the band's management and split from them last year , despite having played a huge part in launching their successful career.
Now the the girl band will be going head to head with Cowell for ratings as their near-identical TV series look set to premier around the same time.
Little Mix will host a new BBC1 prime time show called 'The Search' which is due to start early next year - but now ITV's 'X Factor: The Band' will go live around the same time.
Both shows revolve around finding a new band to follow in the footsteps of Little Mix and other talent show alumni like One Direction and Girls Aloud.
In an interview with The Sun , he said: “This is what really happened. I was approached to co-produce that show last year by Little Mix’s management.
“I told them the problem was we have a conflict of interest because we are launching X Factor The Band in 2020. We were told their show was going to launch in 2021.
“Then we had the fallout and find out Little Mix were bringing their show forward. Was that intentional because we are doing our show? I have no idea.
“But regardless, it was too much fun not to do this year. I would rather it was us doing it first.
“It 100% makes it more exciting there being a battle.”
The group who wins Little Mix's series will join them on their summer tour in 2020. Find out how to apply here .
