Simon Cowell | MediaGuardian 100 2012
Job: TV producer, presenter
Age: 52
Industry: broadcasting, music
2011 ranking: 9
This time last year we said Simon Cowell was about to take the biggest gamble of his career, so did he end up in the red – or black?
With the second series of The X Factor enjoying only modest success in the US, and audiences for his two ITV talent shows in decline, Cowell hasn't exactly lost his deposit but neither did he hit the (Wonga-sponsored) jackpot.
But he is responsible for the two biggest shows on ITV1, Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, even if his disappointing Ant and Dec gameshow Red or Black is unlikely to make it a ratings hat trick.
And he remains one of the music industry's most reliable starmakers, as was shown when his boyband One Direction became the first British act to debut at No 1 in the US album charts. One Direction finished third in The X Factor in 2010 — whatever happened to the chap who won it?
"He has not had a great year, but when you are Simon Cowell it doesn't really matter," said our panel. "Even after an annus horribilis, the Queen is still the Queen."
Cowell at least had the satisfaction of seeing off BBC1's The Voice. But the real rivalry is with his old sparring partner Simon Fuller, whose show American Idol achieved ratings around double those of The X Factor in the US. Closing that gap, with an almost entirely new on-screen team, will be closest to Cowell's heart.
If we know more about him than we did last year, that is down to Tom Bower's biography, Sweet Revenge, which revealed he once had a dalliance with former X Factor judge Dannii Minogue, and a penchant for black toilet paper. His latest project for ITV is a cookery show, Food Glorious Food, and no one cooks up a storm like Cowell. Eggs factor, anyone?