[Dion]

On Early Show, They Say Sorry For Judging Her At First By Her Looks, Before She Belted Out Tune That Made Her Famous

Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan told Chen they were simply amazed when Boyle began to sing -- especially considering how they'd prejudged her by her looks.

"I mean," said Holden, "it's a very shallow thing to say but, obviously, the minute she walked onstage we all, and the audience, completely judged her on her appearance and everything else. And I hate saying that. But, you know, that true cliche, we judged a book by its cover, unfortunately, and we're all very cynical. The audience was jeering and booing and it was just really uncomfortable, wasn't it? And we were, 'Oh, just please be good or just get off. Because it's just -- we just need you to do something here,' because we were so dying for her."

Morgan said, "I would just like to apologize to Susan Boyle, because I think it's long overdue, because, from the clip, you know, (millions of) people could see that Simon Cowell (the third judge that night -- he of "American Idol" fame) and I -- we don't have the best reputations, I think, for courtesy in America. I think we owe her on apology because it was an amazing performance. As I said, we were all laughing at her when she started, and by the end, the last laugh was on her."