Simon Cowell Reflects on Susan Boyle Wakeup Call After 2009 Audition

Simon Cowell called his treatment of susan boyle on Britain's Got Talent “disgusting” and said the encounter was “a bit of a wakeup call.” He was looking back at the 2009 audition that helped make Boyle one of the show's defining breakouts. His comments return to a moment that changed both reputations: Boyle's career took off, and Cowell says he had to check his own behavior.

Glasgow, April 2009

Cowell first met Boyle in April 2009 at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, when she arrived to audition for the third series with “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Misérables. The panel that day included Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, and all three judges misjudged her based on how she looked when she stepped onto the stage.

Boyle's audition ended with a standing ovation, a rare reversal in a format built around first impressions. She finished in second place in the series finale, losing to dance troupe Diversity, but the performance did more than move the competition along — it set up the recording deal that followed.

Syco Music and 10 million copies

After the finale, Cowell ran up to Boyle and told her he would sign her. She joined Syco Music, released her debut album I Dreamed a Dream, and turned that TV moment into a recording career that grew far beyond the contest itself.

That debut became one of the best-selling albums of the century and sold over 10 million copies. Boyle later released eight more studio albums with Syco Music, giving Cowell's label a long-running commercial return from a contestant the panel had initially read wrong.

Cowell's apology, years later

On the podcast Tales from the Celebrity Trenches, Cowell said, “We are awful. All of us.” He added, “And I was just as bad. We all were.” He also said, “We do look disgusting, but you got to hold your hands up at that moment,” then followed it with, “And so we're going to say sorry.”

He was even blunter about the judges' reaction, saying, “I think we all looked at ourselves at that point and went, 'Oh, God, we're all terrible.'” That makes the Boyle episode more than a nostalgic TV clip: it is Cowell publicly revisiting a mistake that helped define how the show judged outsiders at first glance.

Boyle had already framed Cowell as a major force in her career when she told People magazine in 2019, “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.”