Simon Cowell issued an apology during Friday night’s Britain’s Got Talent live show, after upsetting a young contestant with some of his critiques.
During the final stage of the semi-finals illusionist and quick change performers Matricks Illusion took to the stage, where they performed a routine in which a Simon Cowell lookalike was pushed into a rubbish compactor and turned into a paper cut-out.
However, the man himself was seemingly unimpressed with the routine, even going as far as pushing his buzzer during the performance.
Explaining his decision, he told the group: “It wasn’t magical enough. There was a lot of chaos
“We had a magic act on earlier in the week that was a lot better. This lacked, I don’t know, star power for me.”
However, what Simon presumably failed to notice was that the group’s youngest member had been moved to tears during his comments, prompting an apology later in the show.
“I just want to say something,” Simon said. “Going back to the very first act, I didn’t realise I had really upset someone. I just apologised to her, called Lamorna, and I feel really awful.
“I now hate myself.”
With this year’s semis now over for another year, BGT will air its live final on Sunday night.
Among those competing for a cash prize of £250,000 and a spot at the Royal Variety Performance will be impressionist Ben Nickless, teen comedian Eva Abley, young poet Aneeshwar Kunchala and Greatest Showman singer Loren Allred.
This year’s series of BGT has faced criticism from some viewers over the heavy inclusion of established entertainers, including many who’ve already had success on Got Talent franchises around the world, though bosses have repeatedly defended the show.