On September 12, 2012, "The X Factor" U.S. judges Britney Spears and Simon Cowell gave their best interview together so far, due in large part because they were on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live." The show's host, Jimmy Kimmel, likes to poke sarcastic fun at his guests while he is interviewing them, and he made no exception for Cowell and Spears. Because Cowell did most of the talking, Kimmel took aim at Cowell the most during the interview. Kimmel also had Cowell and Spears play a "Newlyweds" type game to test how well they know each other.
Spears (wearing a a white dress shirt over a mini-skirt outfit with a tuxedo train in the back) was visibly nervous, as she often fidgeted with her hands throughout the interview. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is actually not live, but prerecorded at 7 p.m. Eastern Time for airing aired later at midnight Eastern/Pacific Time.
What was refreshing about the interview was that, unlike most people who interview Cowell and Spears, Kimmel didn't seem intimidated by them and therefore he wasn't afraid to ask tough questions and say what a lot of people are thinking.
The fact that "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is on late-night TV also made a difference, since some of the subject matter in the "Newlyweds"-type game was not suitable for young kids.
Kimmel jumped in right away with his blunt comments:
"Is there any sexual attraction between the two of you?" Kimmel asked Cowell and Spears.
Cowell replied, "You've got to remember she is engaged."
Kimmel asked Spears, "Do you know when you're getting married? Is it a secret?"
Spears replied, "Probably, yes."
Kimmel mentioned that he liked the Season 2 premiere episode of "The X Factor" U.S., which was televised on Fox on September 12, 2012. He mentioned that he thought Spears and Demi Lovato were better judges on the show than he thought they would be.
Kimmel got a lot of laughs when he made fun of Cowell's tendency to wear unbottoned shirts that show off his chest and exposes his chest hair. Kimmel jokingly snapped at Cowell at one point in the interview: "Please button that shirt! It's disgusting!" Cowell meekly replied, "I'll adjust myself. You keep talking. I can't fund my buttons."
There was a slightly uncomfortable moment when Cowell alluded to Spears' troubled past when he described the first time he talked to Spears about being an "X Factor" judge: "She was sweet and humble and nice. Her reputation was completely different. I was very, very surprised."
Spears grimaced and said, "Whatever!"
Kimmel then asked about Spears being a tougher judge than people expected: "Do you like being a tryant?"
Spears replied, "Yes." She explained why she gives honest feedback to bad singers: "I would want to know. I wouldn't want to waste seven years of my life [trying to be a singer] when I should be a doctor."
Kimmel missed an opportunity here to mention that lip syncher Spears rarely sings live and that it's ironic that she's judging people's abilities to sing live.
When Kimmel mentioned that Lovato was a "very good" judge, Cowell said, "I like working with loopy people. That's part of the attraction."
Spears quipped in one of the few times during the interview that she showed a sense of humor, "Oh, God! I'm great then!"
Cowell added, "I made up my mind up a couple of years ago to work with Demi. The fact that she went through the whole Disney thing, and came out a bad girl, I kind of liked that. It made her interesting.
"She had her issues," Cowell continued "She's very open about what she went through. She's a really good model. And I think it's really important because out audience, a lot of people who are watching, are 15, 16, 17. She's close to that audience. So I think you needed that perspective. So then you just throw everybody together and you just pray it's going to work."
Kimmel then said that he kind of felt sorry for L.A. Reid because the other three "X Factor" U.S. judges get more attention than Reid does: "Poor L.A. Reid ... Nobody cares about him anymore. It's almost as if he doesn't exist."
Cowell defended Reid by saying, "You've got to remember with L.A., he's one of the biggest hitmakers in the world. He has his moments."
Kimmel retorted: "He does have his moments, but nobody's paying attention to them!"
The topic then came up of who will host "The X Factor" U.S. to replace fired Steve Jones, whom Kimmel called a "terrible host ... I told you to get rid of him."
Cowell admitted that Khloe Kardashian is "in the loop" to get the hosting job, but Kimmel pounced on Cowell by saying it was a bad idea for Kardashian to host the show because "things are going to go terribly wrong."
Cowell replied, "We'll see. I actually think she'll do a good job." Cowell also stated what he has said in many other interviews: He wants "The X Factor" U.S. to have two co-hosts, preferably a man and a woman.
Kimmel then criticized Cowell's idea to have two co-hosts, "That's a cop-out. If you want a train wreck on your hands? One Kardashian! We all like a train wreck every once in a while."
Kimmel then mentioned that Spears' younger son Jayden James had his sixth birthday that day. "Did Uncle Simon get him a present?" Kimmel asked. The answer was no, but he might get a present from Cowell later.
Spears and Cowell were asked if they ever spend their free time hanging out with each other. Spears mentioned that Cowell has not met her two children yet, and Cowell said that Spears has been over to Cowell's house
No topic was off-limits for Kimmel, as he asked Cowell if the rumor is true that Cowell uses black toilet paper in his home. Cowell replied: "My interior designer, for some reason, decided to order it and put it in one of the downstairs loos. I think it's ridiculous."
Kimmel quipped, "Does Satan have a paper-goods company somewhere?"
Then Cowell and Spears played the "Newly-X Game," inspired by "The Newlywed Game," in which they were asked questions and then had to guess what the other person's answer was. If someone guessed correctly, he or she got five points.
To summarize, both Cowell and Spears ended up with the same number of points (five each).
Some of the questions and answers were:
"If you were on a boat with everyone on 'The X Factor" judging panel, and you could only save one of them, who would you save?"
Spears' answer was Lovato, while Cowell said he would save himself.
Cowell had accidentally revealed his answer to that question in advance, but it took a moment for dim-witted Spears to get that she already had the answer. She paused and looked confused until Kimmel told her, "I'll give you a hint. He just showed the card to us."
Here were the other questions and answers in the quiz:
"What is your favorite curse word?"
Spears answer was "f*ck" (which was blurred out when she held up the answer on a card), while Cowell's answer was "Bloody hell." Cowell's guess was bleeped out on TV, but Spears looked horrified and said, "Oh my God!" Spears' guess was the "s" word, which she didn't say fully, but she said, "Sh..."
Britney would be the perfect girl if she would just [fill in the blank]?
Cowell's answer was, "Keep on judging 'The X Factor." (Spears said she couldn't guess an answer.)
Simon would be the perfect guy if she would just [fill in the blank]?
Spears's answer was, "Change his clothes." (Cowell guessed, "Button my shirt," which counted as a correct guess.)
Which part of the other person's body do you think is sexiest?
Spears answer was "chest hair." (Cowell guessed her answer would be "butt.")
Cowell's answer was "tits." (Spears guessed his answer would be "arms.")
And the "prize" was "What's Up Dawg?," the 2003 memoir written by Randy Jackson of "American Idol" fame.
And that was the end of the interview.
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" was the last stop on Cowell and Spears' publicity tour of national TV shows to promote the Season 2 premiere of "The X Factor" U.S.
It was a good way to cap off their mostly boring and contrived interviews on other TV shows.
(Click here to watch the entire "Jimmy Kimmel Live" episode.)
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