Simon Cowell issued a rare apology on Friday’s episode of Britain’s Got Talent, after he left a young girl in tears.
The talent show judge, who is known for his harsh criticisms, made it no secret that he wasn’t impressed by the opening performance from magic act, Matricks Illusion.
The group aimed to wow the judges in Friday’s semi-final, but the 62-year-old pressed his buzzer and said the performance lacked “star power”.
Simon harshly explained: “I buzzed because I didn’t feel it was magical enough. There was a lot of chaos, and whereas I like these big magic acts compared to cards, we had a magician on a few days ago who I thought was so much better.”
“I didn’t think this… this lacked, I don’t know, star power for me,” he added.
The group of seven were visibly disappointed by his comments, but the youngest member Lamala took the criticism the hardest.
Lamala bared a red face and tears rolled down her cheeks as she was comforted by another member of the group.
Her upset went unnoticed by the judges, until Simon came to the realisation later in the show.
Towards the end of the episode, Simon interrupted the programme and said: “I’d like to say something, you know going back to the very first act, I didn’t realise I’d really upset someone.”
“I just apologised to her, called Lamala, and I feel really awful, I now hate myself. Anyway got that out the way, back to you,” he finished, handing the spotlight back to the show’s hosts Ant and Dec.
Agree with Simon about #MatricksIllusion There wasn’t enough magic, there was too much dancing and some bits there wasn’t enough happening #BGT
— Charlotte K13 (@Charlotte_K13) June 3, 2022
Although the reality TV judge apologised, many Britain’s Got Talent fans flocked to Twitter to agree with Simon’s comments about Matricks Illusion.
One viewer tweeted: “Matricks Illusion were s**t , such a poor opening to the show.”
Another wrote: “Agree with Simon about #MatricksIllusion. There wasn’t enough magic, there was too much dancing and some bits there wasn’t enough happening.”
