PA MediaSimon Cowell has labelled Amanda Holden the “Britain’s Got Talent queen” as he revealed singer Cheryl turned down a judging role on the show.
The popular STV talent show returns for its 18th series on Saturday with judges Cowell, Holden, singer Alesha Dixon and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli.
TV duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly return to host the show, with social media star and musician KSI joining the panel as a guest judge.
PA MediaCowell said of 54-year-old TV and radio presenter Holden, who has been on the judging panel since the first series, that the secret to her BGT success is that she “loves the acts”.
He explained: “That’s her, she honestly loves it. You know, every time I talk to her it makes me laugh because I say, ‘you are loving this, aren’t you?’.
“Because there are days where I’m knackered and there’s still an hour to go.
“And I’m like, wow, it’s been a long day, and she’s like, ‘yeah, but it’s brilliant, isn’t it?’.
“She is our Britain’s Got Talent queen and she deserves that crown.”
The music mogul added: “And you know what? She was an interesting booking because we’d offered the role to Cheryl Cole, as she was known in those days.
“A week before filming, she calls me and goes, ‘I just can’t do it’, and wouldn’t give me a reason. I think she was freaked out.
“We literally had two judges and a week to book someone. I just knew it had to be Amanda because I’d met her and I really liked her, she was very funny and I just thought she’d fit the show perfectly.
“Fast forward 18 years and she’s still a huge success and we have become great friends. I do consider her one of my best friends.”
Girls Aloud member Cheryl was a judge on Cowell’s STV singing show The X Factor from 2008 to 2010, and joined the US version in 2011 before returning between 2014 and 2015.
PA MediaSyco Entertainment boss Cowell also spoke about a near-death experience he had while filming the latest series, when he was asked to lay next to a line of watermelons as a contestant smashed them with a sledgehammer.
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.”
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.
Last year’s series was won by singer Sydnie Christmas, who sung Somewhere Over The Rainbow in the final, winning with 27.2% of the vote.
She beat other contestants including runner-up Jack Rhodes, a magician, and third-placed dance duo Abigail And Afronitaaa.
The show has run since 2007 and has produced winners including Susan Boyle, Paul Potts and Diversity.
The series champion receives £250,000 in prize money and the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety Performance.
A format change this year will see the live semi-finals air weekly rather than nightly across one week as they had done previously.
Britain’s Got Talent will return on Saturday at 7pm on STV.
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