Ugly Duckling No More

The “Britain’s Got Talent” hopeful has undergone a change that AP writer Gregory Katz calls “startling.”

Gone is the fusty woman with graying, frizzy hair and a jowly face who joked on air that she had never been kissed, replaced by a stylish, freshly-coiffed lady in fashionable leather jacket and what looks to be a Burberry scarf. The dark, unkempt eyebrows have been shaped and colored.

It is a pretty striking difference, as you can see.

But has she made a mistake? The buzz in Britain seems to suggest she might have.

“She looks 10 years younger,” said Toni Jones, assistant fashion editor at The Sun tabloid newspaper, which featured the new look Boyle on its cover Friday.

“Compared to what she had, it’s a 200 percent improvement. But our readers think this is as far as she should go. We want her to stay one of us.”

Apparently producers of “Britain’s Got Talent” agree. Executives of the show are reportedly concerned the change in appearance will dilute her authenticity with viewers.

“It’s got massive implications for her because the people above her want her to look ordinary,” said Jones, who praised Boyle for spending 35 pounds ($51) at a salon near her home in Scotland rather than trekking to London for a 200 pound ($295) cut at a celebrity salon.

Max Clifford, one of Britain’s most prominent publicists, concurred with Jones, saying, “She has to make sure that the person people all around the world fell in love with remains the same.”

Here on the other side of the Atlantic, where we love a good Cinderella story, Washington Post fashion editor Robin Givhan thinks the transformation is necessary.

“The tale of Susan Boyle will not be complete until the shy spinster blossoms,” Givhan wrote before the makeover. “Those who have been entranced by her story so far should let Boyle’s fairy godmother finish her work.”

The most curious part of this whole story may be the fact Simon Cowell has revealed the performance that got the whole world buzzing about Boyle was actually filmed in January.

As a co-worker in the office pointed out, that means the aspiring singer sat in her cottage, looking as dowdy as ever for four months – despite the fact she was most likely aware of what the public’s response to her would be.

Whatever the case, it’s a safe bet we’ll be hearing a lot more about Susan Boyle before this is all over.

The singer was even mentioned in this scene from Wednesday night’s episode of “South Park,” making her a member of an exclusive club that includes people like Kanye West, Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Cruise.