Cowell and Idol judges offer to save Britney

Music mogul Simon Cowell and his fellow 'American Idol' judges have offered to help save Britney Spears' career - if she'll dump her entourage and take advice from them.

Cowell, former pop star Paula Abdul and producer Randy Jackson admit they were horrified by the troubled pop superstar's awful performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday and they want to help Spears get her career back on track.

British music mastermind Cowell, who earlier this week suggested the ill-advised performance may have "killed" Spears' career, now says: "We will take her under our wing for six months and we will produce a new Britney Spears."

And he insists he knows exactly what needs to be done to revamp the pop singer's charttopping career.

He adds: "Keep her away from her stupid friends (and) buy her some underwear."

Speaking at the San Diego, California auditions for the next American Idol contest, Jackson added: "We are going to manage Britney, we're gonna take good care of her... Britney, if you're listening, we're here for you."