Unbelievable Magic | Sacred Riana’s Haunting and Terrifying Performance on America’s Got Talent 2024
Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell reveals he’s still dealing with ‘painful’ medical issue
Simon Cowell, a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, shocked the co-judges and viewers as he revealed that he was still dealing with a terrible physical condition.
Simon Cowell, a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, shocked the co-judges and viewers as he revealed that he was still dealing with a “painful” physical condition.
Last year, the 65-year-old TV mogul disclosed that he experiences severe migraines after being forced to skip a few auditions during filming.
Cowell dons a pair of red-tinted glasses to protect his eyes while filming in the studio under intense lighting for an extended period of time.
He posted a new picture on Tuesday that showed the judges getting back together at the BGT auditions as the new series’ shooting gets underway.
It appears that Simon is still dealing with migraines a year later because he was donning a pair of the colored lens glasses in the photo.
He started a new series with his fellow judges Bruno Tonioli, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden.
Simon announced, “We’re back!” as he was in Blackpool for the next audition round.
In February last year, Simon clarified about his health issues on Instagram and informed his “concerned” fans that he wears glasses due to medical reasons.
“Next week we are filming BGT in Manchester – I look forward to seeing you then. PS. This is why I wear these glasses!” he concluded.
Simon opened up about mystery illness
Sharing a photo of himself on the judging panel with the spectacles on hand, Simon said, “I just found out according to the internet, I have a ‘mystery illness’.”
He further addressed the concerned people and said that he missed two auditions two weeks ago because he experienced a migraine after spending a lot of time in the filming lights.
Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly will once again join the judges in this series, and YouTuber KSI will be in attendance as a guest.
The series was put on hold in October following the demise of Liam Payne, who gained popularity on Simon’s show, the X Factor, in 2010.
Fremantle UK, a representative for the show’s producer, issued a statement after Liam’s death. “Due to the tragic passing of Liam Payne, we have decided to postpone the Britain’s Got Talent auditions. Our thoughts are with Liam’s friends, family and all who loved him.”
‘Very frightening’ plan by developer to buy $1B in homes will price renters out: anti-poverty group
ACORN member critical of plan; Core says it’ll create more supply amid Ontario housing crisis
Colin Butler · CBC News · Posted: Jun 16, 2021 11:13 AM MST | Last Updated: June 17, 2021
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An anti-poverty group is calling a Toronto-based developer’s plan to buy $1 billion worth of single-family homes and turn them into rental properties a “frightening” example of how even more people will be priced out of an increasingly expensive housing market.
The plan, reported by the Globe and Mail on Monday, would see Core Development Group build a single-family home rental business by buying housing stock in medium-sized cities across Ontario, including London, Kingston, Hamilton, Barrie, Cambridge, Peterborough, Guelph and St. Catharines.
The developer wants to expand its footprint outside the province by 2026, to eventually build a fleet of 4,000 rental units in Ontario, B.C., Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Critics say the move couldn’t come at a worse time. Rents and housing prices are soaring across Canada, creating a shortage of single-family homes and making housing ever less affordable.
Finding decent rent ‘darn-near impossible’
“I find it very frightening. It makes it even harder to find a decent place to rent, which at this point is darn-near impossible,” said Samantha Lawrence, a member of the London, Ont., chapter of ACORN, a community organization of low- and moderate-income people.
“There’s no quality control or property standards.”
Lawrence said she’s been a lifelong renter since moving out of her parents’ house when she was 17. She said that as time marches on, it’s becoming more difficult to find a suitable, affordable place for herself and her two daughters.
Lawrence said despite paying a fair market rate for rent, she’s battled landlords over bedbug and cockroach infestations, windows that aren’t sealed properly and discoloured tap water, problems that many times weren’t fixed.
“I’ve experienced everything from freezing pipes in the winter and having to borrow buckets of water from the neighbours to even flush the toilet, never mind bathe or anything like that, to roofs leaking.”
Tight housing inventories now the norm
Lawrence’s experience underscores what’s become more commonplace in the competitive housing market, where inventories of both single-family homes and apartments are at some of their lowest levels in decades.
In the London area last month, 1,433 homes were sold, leaving the market with so few homes that it would take just over two weeks to liquidate the region’s existing stock, according to the London St. Thomas Association of Realtors.
The latest market rental survey from Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows average rent in London was $1,119, up seven per cent over 2019, despite the fact the vacancy rate rose to 3.4 per cent as new units came online last year.
CBC News asked Core Development Group for an interview Monday and received a written statement from chief executive officer Corey Hawtin on Tuesday.
He wrote that Core Development Group chose London, like the other Ontario cities, because of its low vacancy rate.
“We chose markets where there is very little new supply, but where there is a lot of demand. Low vacancies and all markets are growing on a population front, they house a variety of employers and are growing cities without roofs to accommodate that growth.”
The statement said the company is looking to create a “more innovative” supply in response to the housing crisis, and that renters, who the company calls a “rapidly growing cohort,” need “to be advocated for.”
“There is a significant lack of rental availability in the low-rise single-family market. Increasing density through renovating existing homes is the most expedient way to add supply to the housing stock,” the statement said.
“Core’s goal is to provide stable, secure, long-term rental properties in ground-oriented housing for those that are not in a position to buy, but do not want to be relegated to condominium rentals with limited space for themselves or their families.
“We are creating new supply by renovating underutilized and underinvested houses that are geared towards accommodating a second legal and permitted unit.”
‘This may as well be Ireland in the 18th century’
Core Development Group said it’s gearing its offerings toward families who don’t want to live in small apartments, and hopes its foray into rental homes will spur major investment.
Lawrence worries it could be the beginning of the end for mom and pop landlords who rent out single-family homes.
“It’s happening. Everyone is going to have to deal with some major corporation because all these people are going to get gobbled up.”
“This may as well be Ireland in the 18th century or something.”
