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Cowell Admits X Factor Comments 'Go Too Far'
X Factor judge Simon Cowell has admitted he is "appalled" by the way he has treated contestants on TV talent shows.
The hard-to-please media mogul said he looks back at some shows and realises he has "gone too far" when he sees how brutal he has been.
Cowell also revealed about how he initially failed to provide enough support for Susan Boyle when she began to struggle with the pressure of fame.
And during a TV interview with Piers Morgan, to be broadcast on ITV1 on Saturday, he talked about how he gave her the option of walking away from Britain's Got Talent if she wanted.
Cowell, 50, is known for his no-nonsense approach to wannabes who appear on The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent and his tough assessments of their abilities.
But he told Piers Morgan's Life Stories: "There's many, many times where I've watched the show back and I'm absolutely appalled."
Cowell described how easily he got caught up with the mood of the audience: "You become part of a mob and when you watch the show back you realise that you've gone too far."
Last year Boyle's appearance on Britain's Got Talent took the nation by storm and she soon became an international star.
But she struggled to cope with her instant rise to fame and appeared to go into meltdown, checking into the Priory shortly after the final of the show.
Cowell told Morgan: "I don't think that for one second when I saw that (audition) tape that any of us suddenly went 'What are the repercussions for her?'.
"You actually assume, naively, that everything's going to work the way that she's wanted it to.
"And then in the middle of the live shows - and it was quite public - what happened is that she buckled under the pressure.
"That's when you suddenly realise, 'I haven't thought about this person as a human being,' And it was a real wake up call I've got to tell you."
Cowell said when he saw what was happening he gave her the chance to back out, warning her she may not win the show.
He told Morgan: "She looked me in the eye and said 'Simon, I want to compete, I want to take part in the competition. I want to prove all the people wrong who doubted me'."
Cowell also admitted he had been "cowardly" over the short-lived sacking of Louis Walsh from the X Factor judging panel.
"I honestly didn't think he'd care. I mean we thought that, at the time, that maybe the show needed moving on," Cowell said.
:: Piers Morgan's Life Stories: Simon Cowell was broadcast on Saturday.
© Sky News 2010
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