The many, many, many faces of Simon Cowell: After the straight-talking Britain’s Got Talent judge left Saturday Night Takeaway fans bemused with his radically different features, MailOnline looks back at his ever-varying visage

Simon Cowell appeared on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend to chat about a prank he was subjected to, but viewers found it difficult to concentrate on what he was saying and were more concerned with his appearance.

1985: Cowell’s elegant features caught the eye during a night out with his girlfriend Sinitta at London’s Legends nightclub.

1987: The then-little-known record producer looked young and fresh in this television appearance from the late ’80s.

1990: Cowell looks handsome while posing with his then-girlfriend Sinitta, a constant in his life, at an event in London

1999: Cowell, 40, with Ray Hedges and Kate Thornton while judging the This Morning Boy Band competition.

1994-2007: Cowell modeled a pair of circular glasses at the BRIT Awards in 1994 (L), while his teeth appeared slightly whiter in publicity photos for Britain’s Got Talent from 2007 (R).

2001: Cowell looks dapper on Pop Idol, a prototype for The X Factor and the show that helped establish him as a household name.

2001-2003: The mogul gained a reputation for offering caustic comments to unfortunate Pop Idol guests after its release (left, at the Pop Idol panel in 2001 and right, attending the Love Actually movie premiere in 2003) .

Don’t mind me: the pose is similar but the face looks slightly different when Cowell poses for an X Factor publicity photo in 2005 (left) and at an American Idol party in 2006 (right).

2012: Cowell turns heads again while attending the Britain’s Got Talent auditions in London’s Hammersmith.

2014-2019: Cowell’s shiny teeth appear to have been straightened and whitened over the years (LR on The X Factor in 2014 and enjoying a night out in 2019)

2015: Cowell, a career smoker, prepares to light up as he leaves a private function in London.

2015: The British star appeared with unusual facial hair just two months later while launching The X Factor in London.

2021-22: Cowell appears to have lost weight over the past 12 months, while the lines that previously defined his features have softened (LR on America’s Got Talent Extreme and more recently in a Britain’s Got Talent social media post)

2022: The music mogul turned heads during his appearance at the Variety Club Showbusiness Awards in November, where he was accompanied by his glamorous partner Lauren Silverman.

2022: An otherwise straightforward appearance at this year’s pre-recorded Royal Variety presentation on December 2 raised more unwanted questions than answers.

2022: More questioning eyebrows were raised just days later when Cowell’s face was curiously obscured by a shadow as he praised his eight-year-old son Eric during a remote appearance on ITV chat show Loose Women.