Simon Cowell was scared he might ‘actually’ die during a terrifying Britain’s Got Talent stunt.
The 65-year-old star feared for his life during an audition for the new series of the ITV talent show when a blindfolded man smashed watermelons around him with a mallet.
If that sounds like a recipe for disaster to you, rest assured you’re not alone as the performer also appeared a little nervous.
In a trailer for the new series, someone from the crew can be seen intervening and telling them to stop as Simon looks shocked.
‘You know the feeling when you kind of think, somebody doesn’t want you on the show anymore? It was that,’ he said during a press launch for the show, according to The Sun.
‘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 he was smashing these watermelons.’
Although St. John’s Ambulance staff were on hand, the talent show boss – who told Amanda Holden he felt the breeze of the mallet by his head at one point – isn’t sure it would’ve mattered.
‘It was so precarious because it was melon they were smashing. So the water was everywhere,’ he added.
‘So any kind of safety that there must have been on that stage was out the window. It was horrific.’
Fellow judge Amanda revealed the mallet ended up ‘about an inch from’ Simon’s head, but she insisted producers were ‘howling with laughter’ earlier in the act.
If near death experiences by watermelon don’t get your blood racing, US performer Auzzy Blood might do the trick.
When the show returns next week, the contestant will be seen hoisted above the stage by a chain attached to a meat hook which has gone through his mouth and nose.
Simon told press this week that the kids in the audience ‘actually do’ like it, although Ofcom might be kept busy by the extreme stunt.
‘We probably will get some complaints. It’s fun horror where you don’t want to watch it — and you really do want to watch it,’ he teased.
Also in the trailer, fans can be heard heckling Simon in between acts, with one person even calling him an ‘old fart’ during the Blackpool auditions.
‘Simon isn’t vain in that way and found the heckling absolutely hilarious — even when they were calling him an old fart,’ a source told The Sun.
‘He loves having BGT in Blackpool precisely because the crowds are so raucous and enthusiastic.’
Britain’s Got Talent returns to ITV at 7pm on February 22.
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