Remember When Ant & Dec Pranked Simon Cowell on 'American Idol'?

TALENTRECAP.COM Singing American Idol

Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit

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Before Ant & Dec (Ant McParlin and Declan Donnelly) worked with Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent, they pranked the music mogul on American Idol. The hilarious stunt happened on their talk show Saturday Night Takeaway all the way back in 2003.

Ant & Dec Pranked Simon Cowell on American Idol

Cowell appeared as a guest on Saturday Night Takeaway to talk about the success of American Idol. During his appearance, Ant & Dec played a clip from when they visited the United States to play a prank on Cowell.

The pair wore disguises and called themselves Scotty and Jimmy. For their audition, they chose to sing “Opposites Attract” by Cowell’s fellow judge Paula Abdul. In their version, they changed the word “lovers” to “brothers.”

Cowell was visibly annoyed by their performance, while Abdul seemed to get a kick out of it. However, Cowell eventually figured out what was going on after he saw Donnelly break dance. That’s when they finally revealed their true identities.

When they removed their glasses, Cowell leaned back in his chair and laughed. The judge joked that they were going to Hollywood before giving them a hug. He said the prank was “brilliant.”

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How Did Cowell Figure It Out?

While the audition played, Cowell could be seen laughing as he watched it back from the set of Saturday Night Takeaway. When the hosts asked when he figured out it was them, Cowell joked that he “knew instantly.”

“This was not an unusual audition in America. This was a good one,” Cowell said, earning laughs. “When you started singing, I was looking over to the producer to actually say, ‘He looks a bit like Ant, this guy.'”

But what ultimately gave it away was that the two of them tend to do “a funny dance routine,” and he recognized it when they started busting a move during the audition. The judge told them that it “was one of your better performances.”

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