Ultimate DJ: Simon Cowell's 'X Factor for DJs' scrapped by Yahoo

Fatboy Slim said of the show back in 2012: ‘F**k off, no – that's a terrible idea!'

Simon Cowell will be back on the UK's X Factor judging panel this year, producers have confirmed (Getty Images)

With X-Factor viewing figures dwindling, it’s no wonder Yahoo have shelved Simon Cowell’s 'DJ competition' TV show just months before it was set to premiere.

Ultimate DJ was pitched by the music mogul as 'X-Factor for DJs', and promised the winner a recording contract with Sony Music.

Cowell had appeared on stage at Yahoo’s 2015 NewFront event in New York earlier this year to promote the show.

The show was set to debut in early 2016 but, as Variety has reported, Yahoo have since decided to stop working on the project.

This isn’t the first time the project has been shelved: in 2012 the show was scrapped, at the time being criticised by numerous music industry personal. It was also spoofed on more than one occasion.

According to NME, Fatboy slim said at the time: "Simon Cowell was talking about doing a show and everyone in the business, he kind of started approaching us, and we were like, ‘F**k off, no – that's a terrible idea!'

“That's the good thing about dance music; it grows organically through drunk people late at night coming up with stupid ideas. It's not something that can be scripted or transported into a TV studio."

It is currently unknown whether any other broadcasters have picked up the show.