Simon Cowell once rejected couple’s $150,000 offer to ‘judge us having sex’

Talk about an indecent proposal.

Simon Cowell recently shared his concern that decades on television as a judge for American Idol, The X Factor, and America’s Got Talent may have overstated his powers of discernment a bit. Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail podcast, Cowell reflected that “people used to ask me to be rude to them. I mean literally, they would come up and say — particularly in America — ‘Will you be rude to me?’ And I’m like, ‘No!'”

In retrospect, those propositions seem quaint.

“Then one time — it’s a true story,” Cowell said, “I was in a restaurant and this guy comes up to me and he said, ‘I love your show.'” Cowell said he thanked the man, who proceeded to ask him for a picture and introduce his wife, before blurting out, “Would you judge us having sex?”

Dumbfounded, Cowell responded, “‘Are you winding me up?’ They went, ‘No, we’ll pay you.'” Ever the enterprising businessman, Cowell asked the couple, “‘Well how much?’ And it actually was a lot of money. I thought, ‘Do I? No, I just can’t do it.'”

“It was 150 grand,” Cowell eventually revealed.

Though the British TV personality and record executive, 65, called the proposal “bizarre,” he admitted to “really have enjoyed” encounters like these for what they represent.

“I am very shy,” Cowell explained, “so once I was known by people, it was kind of good, because it broke the ice with people you meet. Instantly they know you, you’re talking about something you know, which is the shows or the artists or whatever, so it kind of helped me with my shyness.”

Cowell got his start working for record labels like EMI and BMG throughout the 1980s and ʼ90s. After showing an uncanny knack for syncing the demand for TV talent with the supply of rising musicians constantly surging forth from labels, Cowell was cast as a judge on the first season of the British reality competition series Pop Idol.

His infamously antagonistic disposition as a judge quickly led him to American Idol, where he became a household name alongside established music stars Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. 

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Across his reality TV tenure, Cowell has played an instrumental role in discovering, signing, and cultivating the talent of acts like One Direction, Fifth Harmony, Leona Lewis, and Susan Boyle. Reacting to the recent loss of One Direction’s Liam Payne, who died in October at the age of 31, Cowell mourned, “I feel empty…. Every tear I have shed is a memory of you.”

You can watch the rest of Cowell’s interview on How to Fail above.