Simon's Got Talent Why ‘Mr Nasty' Turned Nice

The Tv Star Tells Piers Morgan How His Son Has Changed His Life.

- Piers Morgan

My favourite Simon Cowell story involves a ventriloquist named Terry Fator. He was a chubby, middle-aged guy who won the second series of America’s Got Talent by throwing his voice to sing songs through puppets.

I was one of the show’s judges, backed him from the start, and predicted he’d be a huge star. But Simon - who, as AGT creator and executive producer held the rights to manage Fator’s career if he liked - didn’t think he could make any serious money from a bloke in his forties singing Roy Orbison’s Crying with his hand up a turtle’s backside. So Simon let him go.

Disappointed but undeterred, Terry landed a residency at the Las Vegas Hilton that turned out to be wildly and unexpectedly successful. On the back of it, the legendary Mirage hotel offered him a five-year, almost $155 million contract. Terry renewed it for more money in 2014 and is now the Strip’s highest-earner. To celebrate, he wrote a book entitled Who’s the Dummy Now?

Well, it’s pretty obvious who the dummy is and that’s the guy who kissed goodbye to at least $75 million in commission.

But the dummy concerned doesn’t like me reminding him of this fact, which, of course, merely encourages me to take every opportunity to do exactly that. “So Simon,” I say, “with regard to Terry Fator, how does it feel to be like the guy from Decca Records who turned down The Beatles because he said guitar bands were on the way out?”

“That’s not quite true,” he splutters. “I’ve said to a group of my people, ‘Tell me what you would have done then with Terry Fator knowing what we know now?’ ... Of course I’m thrilled for him, but I’m not so thrilled we weren’t part of the deal.”