Judge says Boyle threatened to quit

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Susan Boyle has threatened to quit "Britain's Got Talent" as the pressure mounts ahead of the show's final round, one of the show's judges said.

Boyle, who rose to international fame after her first appearance on the talent show, will appear in the final on Saturday but was having doubts as recently as Wednesday, judge Piers Morgan said in U.S. television interviews.

"She's been in tears repeatedly," Morgan told "Inside Edition" in an interview to be aired on Thursday. "And, as of yesterday, she was packing her bags."

Boyle, 48, became a global Internet sensation after her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables" on "Britain's Got Talent" in April was played more than 60 million times on YouTube.

Since then, media attention has exploded, although she laughed it off saying "What pressure?" after overcoming initial nerves in singing "Memory" from "Cats" last weekend and advancing to the final round.

On Thursday, Morgan told "The Early Show" Boyle "even threatened to leave the show yesterday at one stage because of the sheer amount of pressure on her."

Since her debut performance, television crews from around the world have camped outside her home in rural Scotland and newspapers have dedicated countless pages to her.

Morgan said Boyle denied parts of recent tabloid newspaper reports that she had cursed at guests at a London hotel.