Simon Cowell has apologised after admitting he did not offer “any support” to former Britain’s Got Talent winner Jai McDowall.
The pair will reunite when the singer is a contestant on Saturday’s episode of Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions.
The Scottish singer won the show in 2011, but was dropped by his record label after the release of his debut album.
It's been eight years since @Jai_McDowall won Britain's Got Talent, and this week he's returning to the BGT stage hoping to become the champion of champions!🏆
Don't miss Jai's #BGT comeback, this Saturday on @ITV and @WeAreSTV 🌟#BGTChampions pic.twitter.com/I1OqJt5cBA
— Britain's Got Talent (@BGT) September 3, 2019
Ahead of his performance on The Champions, McDowall says: “When I got the record deal it was dream come true and to have it all taken away one one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with.
“That is why I’m on Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, to show Simon I was a worthy winner and I deserve a second chance.”
After his performance of I’ll Never Love Again from A Star Is Born, judge David Walliams tells him: “I have always thought you were a bit overlooked as a winner and very unfairly and you proved tonight that you are one of the best winners Britain’s Got Talent has ever had.”
Got what it takes to impress the Judges? Applications for #BGT 2020 are now open. It changed @Jai_McDowall's life, it might change yours too 🎉 Apply here 👉 https://t.co/JY7c5urN3Y #BGTChampions pic.twitter.com/mKLGByFYBW
— Britain's Got Talent (@BGT) September 5, 2019
Cowell tells him: “In 2011 I remember my issue or problem at the time was I was struggling to find out where you fitted into the market and the fact that I never gave you any support during or after the show and you have the guts to come back and prove a point to me, which is that you have grown in stature and grown in confidence.”
He added: “I owe you an apology for not giving you the support I should have given you at the time and I respect the fact that you have come back to make me look like an idiot and you look fantastic and I could not have been more thrilled so here is the standing ovation that I should have given you.”
McDowall replies: “You have no idea what that means.”
He will compete for a place in the grand final of The Champions alongside other stars of Got Talent shows from around the world.
The @MerseyGirls are fighting fit and ready to battle it out for that title of champion!🏆https://t.co/UqaA3Twdwd
Watch their incredible return on #BGTChampions tomorrow night, 8:30pm on @ITV and @WeAreSTV
— Britain's Got Talent (@BGT) September 6, 2019
They include dance troupe Mersey Girls featuring Julia Carlisle, for whom Cowell arranged to have scoliosis surgery in America after the group reached the final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2017.
Also competing is America’s Got Talent finalist Deadly Games, Italy’s Got Talent winner Antonio Sorgentone, Asia’s Got Talent finalists Gao and Liu and America’s Got Talent winner Paul Zerdin, as well as Germany’s Got Talent winner Alexa Lauenberger and her dancing dogs and Britain’s Got Talent finalists 100 Voices Of Gospel.
Also returning to the stage is Lost Voice Guy, who won the most recent series of the show.
He says: “Going back out on the Britain’s Got Talent stage will be really nerve wracking but it would mean the world to get the nod from the British public again.”
Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions is on ITV at 8.30pm.