Should Nicole Scherzinger have more credit for creating One Direction than Simon Cowell?
To celebrate the 12th anniversary of the group’s creation on July 23, ITV released a video of exactly how judges Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh decided upon the five members — Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Liam Payne.
The clip was filmed in 2010 during the boot camp stage of Season 7 of the reality competition show. All five future members of 1D auditioned as solo acts and did not make it individually to the next round.
The clip began with Cowell grabbing a headshot of Horan and saying, “He should be in the group. I’m not saying we’re going to do it, but I’d like to imagine it.” Scherzinger suggested that they create an “imaginary boyband” instead of “just saying no” to the idea.
After Horan, the group came across Styles. Walsh said that “we liked him,” and it was Scherzinger that moved him over to the pile with Niall.
“Yes, put him with him,” she said while moving him over to the confirmed pile with Horan. Simon agreed, “Absolutely 100%, Nicole is right.”
Cowell insisted on adding Tomlinson into the pile with the other two judges in agreement.
“They are the cutest boyband ever, I love it. The little girls are going to love them,” Scherzinger noted.”They’re just too talented to get rid of, they’ve got the right look and charisma on stage. I think they’ll be really great in a boy band together. They’re like little stars and you can’t get rid of little stars so you put them all together.”
The group continued to sift through other headshots. Cowell came across Payne and noted that he had a “stand out audition” but questioned if he should be in another group. Scherzinger interrupted him and responded, “I don’t think so, I think he will definitely shine. He [Liam] could actually be the leader.”
“He thinks he’s better than everyone else,” Cowell said before Walsh added, “He does Simon, he really has the confidence.”
Finally, it was Walsh who suggested that Malik join the group, which the other two agreed was a “good idea.”
Fans on social media spoke out about the fact that it was Scherzinger who seemingly had the most input, while Cowell got the majority of the credit for forming the boy band.
Other fans noted on social media that Tomlinson previously wrote that it was Scherzinger who put the group together but didn’t get the full recognition that she deserved.
Another bombshell from the footage was the fact that Payne’s previous claim on Logan Paul’s podcast that the group was made around him, proved to be false.
“They stood there and picked us out… and from what I heard, part of the reason One Direction was made was because of Simon [Cowell’s] promise to me that ‘in two years I’ll make it work for you,’” Payne told the YouTuber. “He started with my face and then worked around the rest.”
See how One Direction was formed, below.
See fan reactions to the new footage, below.