Simon Cowell can add “hero” to his long, long list of achievements: The former ‘American Idol‘ and current ‘X Factor‘ judge came to the rescue of nine people who were trapped on a sinking boat in France!

Cowell was in St. Tropez with pop star Sinitta when the duo they heard of an S.O.S. message. ”OMG!! Just had a May Day message,” Sinitta tweeted yesterday (Aug. 29). “35ft boat sinking.. SC [Simon Cowell] has sent us to help and rescue 9 people on board! Slipstream look alike boat,” she wrote.

And this isn’t just some sort of miraculous publicity stunt for the upcoming ‘X Factor’ season. Cowell’s rep confirmed the story, telling The Mirror, “I don’t know about the boat, but Simon said all the passengers are OK which is the main thing.”

Alas, all of the passengers were safely rescued from the boat. ”Everyone ok,” Sinitta tweeted an hour after her original tweet. “Noone [sic] hurt.captain won’t let boat sink, petrol in sea etc would cause major problems and fines. No tide, so hole plugged.”

Mean guy aside, we’d be happy to have him save us any day of the week!

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