Former Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell reflected on his treatment of contestants while sitting behind the desk on the ITV talent show and revealed he regretted how he behaved towards budding singer Susan Boyle. 

The 66-year-old music mogul first met Susan, 65, in April 2009, when she arrived at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow to audition for the third series of the programme with a rendition of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ from the musical Les Misérables.

Her surprising performance resulted in a standing ovation and a jaw-dropping reaction from the sceptical panel, which consisted of Simon and his co-stars at the time, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan.

The celebrity critics misjudged the West Lothian native based on her appearance when she stepped onto the stage, and almost two decades later, Simon seemed to regret his behaviour on that fateful day. 

Susan went on to win second place at the series’s finale, losing out to dance troop Diversity, and earned herself an illustrious career as a professional singer that is still flourishing today. 

During an interview on the podcast, Tales from the Celebrity Trenches, Simon opened up about his time sitting on the panel and explained why he felt he was “disgusting”, and the experience was a “wakeup call”.

“I said, ‘We’re going to just tell it as it is.’ And they went, ‘You look awful.’ I said, ‘We are awful. All of us.’ I mean, that look Piers gives me. It’s just I think of all the looks I’ve ever remembered, that might be the worst,” the father-of-one told host Jamie East. 

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He continued, reflecting on Susan’s participation in the show: “And I was just as bad. We all were. And then, you know, thank God for her, it all worked out well. And, of course, I had the ability to cut all that stuff out, but it was a bit of a wakeup call. Which is, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

“We do look disgusting, but you got to hold your hands up at that moment. A lot of people are going to realise in about 24 hours that we’re just horrible. And so we’re going to say sorry. And that’s what we did.” 

Simon added: “I think we all looked at ourselves at that point and went, ‘Oh, God, we’re all terrible.’ I do remember, actually, because she didn’t win, obviously. So I ran up to the stage. I said to her, ‘Susan, I’m going to sign you, just so you know, it doesn’t matter. It really, really doesn’t matter.’ Because I knew she was going to be upset.” 

Susan’s stellar success

In the years that followed her memorable, record-breaking audition, Susan went on to sign with Simon’s label, Syco Music. 

She released her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, which became one of the best-selling albums of the century, with over 10 million copies sold and toured the world. 

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Maintaining a strong relationship with the X Factor creator, Susan remained under the label and released eight more studio albums with them.

In an interview with People magazine in 2019, she touched on her friendship with Simon and told the publication: “Simon is the biggest inspiration in my career. He’s been my boss for almost 10 years, and I strive to make him proud. He inspires me to continue and strive for perfection.”