Simon Cowell has admitted he, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan looked “awful” and “horrible” during Susan Boyle’s iconic first audition on Britain’s Got Talent, describing the moment as a major “wake-up call”.
The music mogul reflected on the now legendary 2009 audition during the debut episode of Jamie East’s Celebrity Trenches podcast, where he revisited the panel’s reaction before Boyle stunned the audience with her performance of I Dreamed A Dream from Les Misérables.
At the time, Boyle walked onto the stage as an unknown 47-year-old from Scotland, immediately facing visible scepticism from both the judges and audience before she began singing.
Cowell, now 66, admitted he is uncomfortable watching the footage back.
“I look back and I just think, ‘My God we look so awful, horrible’,” he said.
“I actually don’t think we look bad enough. I think we were even worse than that and they went, ‘You look awful’.”
The television producer said the reaction between himself and Morgan in particular still stands out years later.
“And I said, ‘We are awful!’ All of us. I mean that look that Piers gives me, I think out of all the looks I’ve ever remembered that might be the worst. I was just as bad.”
Cowell admitted he could have edited the reaction out of the programme but chose not to, saying the moment ultimately became an important lesson.
“Of course I had the ability to cut all of that stuff out but it was a bit of a wake-up call,” he said.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Susan Boyle, 2019. Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock.com
He added: “We do look disgusting but you have to hold your hands up at that moment and go, ‘A lot of people are going to realise in about 24 hours that we are just horrible’.”
Boyle’s audition quickly became one of the most famous reality television moments ever broadcast, transforming her overnight into an international star.
Her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream silenced the crowd and received a standing ovation, later becoming a viral sensation watched hundreds of millions of times online.
Speaking previously to the Irish Daily Mirror, Boyle admitted she initially felt humiliated by the atmosphere inside the auditorium before she began singing.
“It felt quite suffocating, almost as though I was an act in a freak show, and that hurt,” she said.
She also recalled feeling judged over her appearance.
“Everyone was laughing at me; they wondered who this daft woman with the crazy hair was ... and I had made a bad choice in clothes, so no one had high expectations,” Boyle said.
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Despite the painful experience, Boyle said the positives eventually outweighed the negatives.
“It was incredibly difficult to come to terms with for a time, but the positives have far outweighed the negatives,” she added.
Following the audition, Boyle became one of the defining reality television contestants of the 2000s.
Her debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, became one of the fastest-selling debut albums in UK chart history, launching a hugely successful global music career that included international tours and performances for royalty and world leaders.
In recent years, Boyle has remained active publicly and online, regularly sharing updates with fans and posting photographs alongside stars including Elton John, Peter Kay, Lionel Richie and Marcus Wareing.
The singer has also unveiled a refreshed look, including a new blonde hairstyle and “Subo” branded merchandise promoted on social media.
Boyle suffered a minor stroke in 2022 but made an emotional return to the Britain’s Got Talent stage the following year.
More than 15 years later, her original audition is still widely regarded as one of the most memorable and transformative moments in British television history.
