Simon Cowell has revealed he had a near-death experience in the new series of Britain’s Got Talent.

Syco Entertainment boss Cowell also said it happened while he was filming the latest series when he was asked to lay next to a line of watermelons as a contestant smashed them with a sledgehammer.

He said he thought he thought “they actually want to kill me” while he was filming the show.

Cowell added that the contestant was “nervous”, “shaking” and “he’d slipped” at the time of his audition.

Simon Cowell thought a BGT contestant wanted him dead

The 65-year-old said: “It’s that feeling when you kind of think somebody doesn’t want you on the show any more. It was that.

“It was the closest, genuinely, where I’m thinking, ‘they actually want to kill me’.

“And I swear to God, that’s how I felt because this guy got really nervous and he’d slipped and was shaking as he was smashing these watermelons.

“The health and safety guys, normally quite annoying, actually stopped him. Thank god, they saved my life.”



Ant McPartlin said he and the rest of the cast were “scared for Simon Cowell’s life” and added that there is “a lot of danger” in this year’s series.

Cowell also explained that he asked Cheryl Cole to be a judge on the show but when she said no, he asked Amanda Holden.

He and Amanda have been on the show together for 18 years now and he described Amanda as the “Britain’s Got Talent queen”.

Who won Britain’s Got Talent 2024?

Last year’s series was won by singer Sydnie Christmas who sang Somewhere Over The Rainbow in the final, winning with 27.2% of the vote.

Recommended reading:

She beat other contestants including runner-up Jack Rhodes, a magician, and third-placed dance duo Abigail And Afronitaaa.

A format change this year will see the live semi-finals air weekly rather than nightly across one week as they had done previously.

How to watch Britain’s Got Talent 2025

If you’re looking forward to the new series and witnessing “a lot of danger”, here’s how you can watch it.

Britain’s Got Talent will return on Saturday, February 22 at 7pm on ITV1, ITVX and STV.