Simon Cowell’s Britain’s Got Talent co-stars made light of his recent weight loss as they poked fun at his lifestyle overhaul.
The talent show star, 59, confirmed in March that he has lost around 20lbs after adopting a vegan diet and earlier this week shut down speculation that he has had a “gastric band” fitted.
Addressing their colleague’s new look in an interview aired on ITV’s Lorraine, panellists David Walliams, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon couldn’t help but crack some jokes at Cowell’s expense.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Holden said, adding: “He’s basically got the same waist size as me.”
Her remark prompted Cowell to compare his weight to Walliams, commenting: “Everyone’s thinner than David.”
“I’ve lost a tiny bit of weight and then [Cowell] lost about five stone,” Walliams replied, before making a good-humoured dig at his fellow judge.
“But he won’t say how he did it,” he added. “Was it the gastric band or the gastric sleeve? He’s not saying.”
Cowell interrupted to set the record straight, telling his colleague that “it was not one of those band things” before Walliams suggested that he should film “a workout video for Christmas.”
“I could do one with you,” Cowell hit back. “Like before and after.”
The judges are set to reunite on screen for the upcoming Britain's Got Talent spin-off series The Champions, which will debut on August 31.
Commenting on the reaction to his weight loss in an interview with Best magazine, the music mogul said: “People have said ‘oh, he’s had a gastric band fitted’ - but I haven’t.
“If I had, I would admit to it. This diet is all about what you put into your body. It’s not the Atkins diet or anything else.”
He revealed that a doctor in Los Angeles urged him to change his “appalling” diet and “cut out fatty foods and certain drinks.”
He added: “Within 24 hours I changed my diet and I’ve not looked back since. You feel better, you look better.
“I cut out a lot of the stuff I shouldn’t have been eating and that was primarily meat, dairy, wheat, sugar - those were the four main things.”
Lorraine airs weekdays on ITV from 8.30am. Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions begins on August 31 at 8pm.
