Music mogul Simon Cowell has hit out at people who suggest that 'The X Factor' needs to be taken off air for a year. 

The show's ratings have been declining recently and Cowell is annoyed that the public, as well as celebrities, seem to think it needs to take a break.

Speaking to Yahoo! OMG recently, the superstar explained: “I think a lot of people should be taking breaks at the moment! It’s very easy to say that. Now I’ve taken a step back, it was a very interesting year last year [on X Factor]."

“When you see what’s going to happen this year, these criticisms, these [viewing] numbers which people were being negative about, are going to start looking a lot better than you think because other people are in a lot more trouble. There are a lot of people that should be taking more than a year’s break but I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

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Watch an interview with Cowell here: