Viewers aren't keen on Simon Cowell swapping X Factor: All Stars for The Band

RadioTimes.com launched a quick poll to get fan reactions to Cowell’s last-minute decision to scrap X Factor: All Stars in favour of a series in search of the next big group.

But 69 per cent would rather see All Stars, which was expected to see Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke return.

Others expressed a strong desire for Cowell to scrap X Factor altogether, with one branding it “uninspiring c*** telly”.

“Not gonna lie, I'd rather watch neither. The show has gone far too downhill now, needs to end,” tweeted another.

“Neither...had its day...move on...please…,” wrote a third.

Cowell said that he had come up with the idea before Little Mix announced they will front new BBC show The Search, which will see the group – who found fame on The X Factor in 2011 – looking for singers to form a new band.

“I was asked to co-produce the show last year by Little Mix’s management,” Cowell told The Sun.

“I told them the problem was we have a conflict of interest because we are launching The X Factor: The Band in 2020. We were told their show was going to launch in 2021.”

An ITV spokesperson said: “Simon Cowell and The X Factor have discovered some of the biggest pop groups in history, including One Direction, Fifth Harmony and Little Mix.

“Now the aim is to find the new superstar group – though now in record-breaking time.”

Cowell is currently in search of a star on X Factor: Celebrity, which saw Jonny Labey and Victoria Ekanoye booted off this weekend.