It's hard to imagine a time before The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.
And it's damn right impossible to remember a time before Pop Idol.
REMEMBER POP IDOL?
We kinda miss Pop Idol.
Well, in a time before all this excitement (and a time we'd have had a hell of a lot less to write about), Simon Cowell was an ESTATE AGENT.
Just IMAGINE Simon Cowell selling you a house.
Speaking during a radio interview with talent manager Professor Jonathan Shalit, he said: "After I left the music industry I was an estate agent for eight months. And I can honestly say it was the most miserable eight months of my life.
"I worked for this really snotty company in Mayfair who hated me and I hated them, and I was so upset that my mum actually said to me 'I've never seen you so depressed.'
"And luckily I was offered a job back at the music publishing company. I'm glad I tried it because it was horrible."
We're bloody happy too – telly would be nothing without you, Simon <3.
In related X Factory news, did you hear that Gifty Louise TOTALLY fancied Matt Terry?
Matt Edmondson told heat himself.
He said: "I know that Gifty really fancied Matt Terry in a big way before she was voted off. Matt Terry gets so much attention. Everyone flirts with him. He has a bit of a Harry Styles quality about him and he's the kind of guy you want to take home to your mum."
(If you aren't sure who Matt Terry is, he's the one that is Louis Tomlinson's 100% real life from the same womb twin*)
Wanna hear more X Factor goss? Check out this week's heat mag – OUT NOW!
*Not actually related in any way at all.
Honey G had an absolute nightmare on The X Factor last night