The World's Got Talent

One phenomenon Simon did not expect was Susan Boyle, the 47-year-old Britain's Got Talent contestant whose voice has taken the world by storm. Simon says he was in a bad mood and anxious to get the show's auditions over with on the day he met Susan. "This lady came up, and I'm kind of thinking, 'This will take five seconds, and I can go have a cup of tea,'" he says. Once he heard her sing, Simon says he immediately knew he'd made a mistake. "[I thought], 'I'm going to look really stupid in a few weeks' time.'" 

Since that first audition, Susan's performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" has gotten more than 100 million hits on YouTube. "There was something Susan said before she came out on stage...'I'm going to rock this audience,'" he says. "She knew we were going to have that reaction, and just to see that look of satisfaction on her face midway through—it was one of my favorite moments."