Simon Cowell recently had his head set on fire during a contestant’s Britain’s Got Talent audition.
The talent mogul and judge was reportedly brought up on stage by a mute and masked magician auditioning for the competition who put a hood over Cowell’s head.
The magician reportedly then poured lighter fluid on Cowell’s hood, locked his head in a box and dropped a flame into the box.
“The audience screamed, judges were out of their seats screaming, everyone was totally stunned,” one audience member reportedly said.
“The flames were put out and Simon got up looking a bit shell-shocked while the rest of the judges breathed a sigh of relief as he returned to the panel.”
Cowell said of the experience: “I could feel liquid being poured on me but I had no idea it was lighter fluid!”
Fellow judge Alesha Dixon said it was “very scary” and called Cowell “a very brave man”, adding: “It made me realise how much we care about you, I was ready to come up there and rescue you.”
Bruno Tonioli, who recently replaced David Walliams as a judge on the competition, said that it reminded him of a scene from Saw.
Simon Cowell is reportedly in talks to relaunch The X Factor in the US.
After the UK X Factor was cancelled last year after 17 seasons, sources have told Deadline that Cowell is keen to bring it back to screens in America.
The report states that talks are underway to revive the series on NBC, with Cowell recently telling The Sun that the network had “offered us to make the show”.