Amanda Holden reveals what happened when Simon Cowell turned up to judge her daughter’s school baking contest

The perks of having a famous mum with equally famous friends, eh?
Amanda Holden shared what happened when Simon Cowell turned up to help judge her daughter’s school baking contest
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Tina Campbell20 June 2023
The Weekender

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Amanda Holden has revealed what happened when Simon Cowell turned up at her daughter’s school to judge a baking contest.

The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52, who is mum to daughters Lexi, 17, and Hollie, 11, explained during her Heart Radio breakfast show how only she had initially been invited to do the honours.

Holden said: “They asked me at my daughter’s school, would I go and judge some cakes, and I was like ‘hmm’ I’m going to have to think about it. So yes, they had a tent, it was fantastically set up, all the kids making cakes.

“They were all sort of given sort of different themes. My favourite cake was a cross-country run. It was a bright green cake and they’d made a run track out of chocolate drops.”

She then went on to explain that she was in the middle of judging when her friend and fellow BGT judge Cowell, 63, turned up to lend a helping hand.

Amanda Holden pictured with her two daughters
Instagram @noholdenback

“And then I thought they were turtles running on the track but they weren’t, they were humans and it had like a finish line, but that was one of my favourites.

“There was one sort of Christmas cake that looked an abomination, there were only two people in this team and I did feel bad for them and it looked awful and I thought ‘oh my god I’m going to have to put my fork in that and eat that,’ and it was actually a very good sponge.

“I was in the middle of judging them on the appearance and sort of creativity and team effort and then I surprised everyone because my friend Simon Cowell turned up in the tent!”

Describing the reaction of the children at this unexpected appearance, she said they simply “lost their minds,” with her Heart Breakfast co-presenter Jamie Theakstone declaring it a “Bake Off-Britain’s Got Talent mash-up”.

She finished off her talke by saying she and Cowell got to decide the winner between them.

“And he came in, armed with a fork and then we sort of decided the winner between us based on taste!,” Holden concluded.

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