Simon Cowell insists BGT audition 'wasn't set up' and vows to take lie detector test

Simon Cowell has directly responded to rumours that singer Max Fox's audition was entirely set up.

The music mogul appeared on ITV's on Friday (25 April) alongside fellow BGT judge The pair discussed the upcoming semi-finals with hosts and Dermot O'Leary.

In last week's episode of BGT, viewers saw Max interrupt the auditions from the audience and ask Simon if he could perform, much to the judge's surprise.

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Simon allowed him to sing, but he was blown away by Max's rendition of Frank Sinatra's My Way, which led to Amanda Holden giving him her second golden buzzer.

While the audition has been shared widely on social media, many BGT fans are sceptical about its authenticity, with some questioning whether producers set it all up.

However, on , Simon shut down the rumours once and for all, revealing he was stunned by the audition.

“On my life, I swear to god that was not a set up," he said. “I honestly thought, ‘Okay, someone has put him there’ and I said to the producers, ‘Come on, it’s a set up, right?’”

Simon continued: “I just thought we’d never show it, but he wants to sing in front of me and I thought, ‘Why not, just let him do it’… I was laughing so much when the golden buzzer happened, I said, ‘No one is going to believe this, no one is going to believe it. They are going to think it was set up.’”

Simon added that he was determined to prove the sceptics wrong: “I’ll take a lie detector test on live TV.”

Bruno also added: "That’s what gives it so much energy because we never know what’s going to happen!"

Max appeared on This Morning earlier in the week to discuss his surprise audition, which aired on ITV1 on Saturday, 19 April.

Speaking to and Andi Peters, Max also confirmed that the audition was impromptu and had not been set up by TV producers.

“It wasn’t a set up… I get all these reality TV shows that go around, and there are so many things where storylines are set up, but this wasn’t one, and that’s all I can say," the singer said.

This Morning airs on weekdays on ITV1 from 10am. Britain's Got Talent airs on Saturdays on ITV1 from 7pm.