During a recent appearance on the “How To Fail with Elizabeth Day” podcast, TV legend Simon Cowell remembered a very unusual fan encounter that left him both entertained and perplexed. The 65-year-old media mogul described an experience in which a couple came up to him with an offer to judge them in a bedroom moment—for a whopping $150,000.
“One time—this is a true story—I was in a restaurant and this guy approaches me and he said, ‘I love your show,'” Cowell started, recounting the incident. After a short conversation and a request for a photo, the exchange took a surprising twist. “He said, ‘This is my wife.’ Nice to meet you. Then he asked, ‘Would you judge us having sex?'”
At first assuming it was a joke, Cowell replied, “Are you winding me up?” But the pair were in earnest and even paid a large amount for him to join. “They said, ‘No, we’ll pay you.’ Well, how much? And it was a lot of money, actually. And I thought, do I? No, I just can’t do it,” Cowell remembered. He later verified the offer was $150,000.
This strange request isn’t the strangest thing Cowell has been asked to do over the years. He said that fans, especially in America, have come up to him and asked him to insult them, echoing his notoriously tactless judging style on programs such as “American Idol” and “The X Factor.” “People used to ask me to be rude to them,” he said.
In spite of his on-stage image, Cowell defined himself as naturally shy, confessing that fame has made it easier for him to deal with social interactions. “I can’t attend a pre-party. It’s the worst thing in the world having to make small talk with strangers,” he revealed. But being known for his work has eased interactions. “Immediately, they know you; you’re discussing something that I enjoy, which is the artists or the shows or whatever. So it sort of worked on my shyness.”
Cowell’s confessions are a glimpse of the idiosyncrasies of fame and the unusual situations it can create. Though he has had to deal with a lot of strange requests, his respect for personal boundaries is strong.
