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By Ben Todd
Must try harder: An awkward Simon Cowell embraces his fiancee Mezhgan Hussainy on the showAnd when fiancee Mezhgan Hussainy leaned in to give him an impromptu kiss he squirmed with embarrassment.
Stilted. Lacking in passion. And definitely in need of work.
That, unfortunately, has to be the verdict on Simon Cowell's performance in his first public kiss with the woman he says has stolen his heart.
The man whose withering judgments on The X Factor turn contestants to jelly seemed remarkably ill at ease himself when he appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on American TV.
And, in a hammer blow to romance, he kept his eyes wide open the entire time.
The interview turned out to be a somewhat toe-curling affair for Cowell, who is the judge and mastermind of both The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.
Flustered: Cowell goes red as host Jay Leno quizzes him about his lovelife
Long wait: Cowell said he would get married at some point in the 'next 10 years'
At one point, he declared: 'I am blushing' as Leno asked about his new relationship. When asked if rumours that he was engaged were true, he stumbled: 'Are they true? Well, I do have somebody in my life now, Jay, yes.
'And I kinda made a decision this year to make somebody happy.' Despite his apparent coyness, Cowell's decision to appear on Leno's show with Miss Hussainy, 36, shows he wants this to be a very public affair.
Cowell, 50, proposed to her on Valentine's Day and gave her a £250,000 diamond engagement ring.
But when Leno invited the bride-to-be to join them, Cowell pretended they had never met, coolly shaking hands. Playing along, she said: 'Nice to meet you' before their awkward kiss.
Asked whether they would marry this summer, Cowell said only that he wanted a wedding 'in the next ten years'.
What a tease: Jay Leno mocks Cowell[endtext]