BGT The Champions: Jai McDowall sings “I’ll Never Love Again”, Simon apologizes

BGT The Champions: Jai McDowall sings "I'll Never Love Again" | Simon's apology | Preliminaries.

September 9, 2019 by Marsha Dizon

Jai McDowall (age 33), sang a stunning rendition of “I’ll Never Love Again” at the preliminaries of Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions 2019.

“I’ll Never Love Again” is a song performed by Lady Gaga from the 2018 movie “A Star is Born”.

McDowall, a Scottish singer–songwriter who won Season 5 of Britain’s Got Talent in June 2011, proved to everyone that he was worthy of that BGT win.

Back in 2012, Simon Cowell said he was disappointed with Jai and said ‘he wasn’t one of our best ones’ and that he wasn’t a ‘genuine star’ like Diversity, George Sampson or Susan Boyle. Simon said back then that Jai wasn’t what he was looking for, according to Metro.

Jai was signed to Syco Music, a record label founded by Simon Cowell, after his win in 2011. His debut album ‘Believe’ was released in December 2011. But in March 2012, he was dropped by Syco after poor sales of his debut album, which reportedly sold only 11,000 copies.

After Jai’s performance at BGT The Champions, Simon apologized for what he said and for his lack of support for Jai McDowall’s career.

The rest of the BGT judges (David Walliams, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden) gave Jai McDowall a standing ovation right after his BGT The Champions performance. Simon Cowell remained glued to his seat.

But Simon’s apology and his action afterwards left Jai McDowall in tears.

Before Simon gave his comments, Amanda Holden said Jai wasn’t ‘properly celebrated as a winner of this show’ and praised him for looking great and doing an amazing job with Lady Gaga’s song.

All eyes then turned to Simon.

The creator of BGT and the Got Talent franchise said:

So, 2011, I remember my issue at the time was I was struggling to find out where you fit into the market. The fact that I never gave you support during or after the show and you have the guts to come back and prove a point to me: you’ve grown in stature and in confidence, and that – was an amazing performance.

I owe you an apology for not giving you the support you needed at the time. But I also respect the fact you’ve come back and made me look like an idiot. And you look fantastic. I could not be more thrilled. So here’s the standing ovation I should have given you.”

And with those words, Jai McDowall got the closure he must have wanted for the past 7 years.

Despite Jai McDowall’s splendid performance at BGT The Champions however, he was eliminated from the competition.

Of the 9 acts that performed for the second week of the preliminaries, the dog act of Alexa Lauenburger and the MerseyGirls dance group advanced to the Finals.

Name: Jai McDowall
Act: Singer
Got Talent History: BGT: 5 – Winner
Result: Eliminated