Simon Cowell shocked at 'Paul Potts moment' on new Britain's Got Talent series

Simon Cowell was left shocked at a "Paul Potts moment" during the new series of 'Britain's Got Talent'.

The 62-year-old music mogul was stunned by a busker called Maxwell, who reminded him of English tenor Paul Potts, who won the first-ever 'BGT' series in 2007.

Simon said: "It was a real surprise. I had no idea he was going to sing like that.

"He was so shy and I was praying it was going to work out for him.

"It was very much like the Paul Potts moment."

Simon admitted it was a really tough decision to not film the show last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, but he had to prioritise the contestants' safety.

He added: "As much as I didn't want to not make the show last year, we just couldn't at that point, it would've been literally impossible.

"We had to stop it at the last moment. It was a difficult decision to make but it was the right one.

"I’ve got to be honest, because of what was happening at the time, which was the new variant [of COVID] had come out, I got really nervous about it.

"We were about two or three weeks out from auditions and I just thought, ‘We can’t do this, the risk to everyone is too high.'

"So it was tough, but I knew it was the right thing to do because it wasn't like the show was never going to come back. We always knew it would come back this year and it would come round quickly, which it did."

The 15th 'BGT' series - which will see Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon return as judges alongside Simon - will return on Saturday (16.04.22).