British singing sensation Susan Boyle was admitted to a London clinic suffering from emotional exhaustion after being beaten in the final of the Britain's Got Talent TV contest, judges on the show said on Monday.

Dowdy and unglamorous, Boyle seemed an unlikely star when she first appeared on the show in April, only to stun the judges and become a global Internet sensation with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.

Boyle, 48, had been heavily backed to win the competition after clips of her earlier appearance were downloaded nearly 200 million times.

But after coming in second on Saturday, doctors were called to her London hotel and suggested she go to a clinic for rest, Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan told U.S. celebrity news outlets on Monday.

Susan is completely and utterly exhausted, Morgan told U.S. celebrity television show Extra.

I think she's found this whole roller coaster ride of the last seven weeks overwhelming ... and she's gone somewhere now that she can find the peace and the quiet to get some sleep, to eat properly and get over what has been an astonishing time in her life.

Morgan said he had spoken to Boyle and did not think she had suffered a breakdown.

Despite expectations that Boyle would make a fortune from her talent and instant fame, there has been concern among show organizers about her ability to cope with pressure.

Boyle, who was starved of oxygen at birth leading to minor brain damage, has been pursued by the world's press since early April and broke down in tears repeatedly ahead of the final.

She didn't sleep. She wasn't eating. I saw her just before she went onstage, they were doing their rehearsals and I arrived...She told me she felt tired and sick with nerves, and she was worried she was going to be sick, judge Amanda Holden told Inside Edition.

Nearly four million Britons phoned in to choose a winner, and street dance troupe Diversity won 24.9 percent of the vote ahead of Boyle's 20.2 percent.

Morgan said Boyle may have lost because of overkill in Britain. I think it was a bit too much for some people in Britain...They just got a bit bored, a bit irritated by the whole mania surrounding Susan, he said.

Boyle's financial future has been seen as secure despite coming second, as Britain's Got Talent creator Simon Cowell and his Syco music label were widely expected to sign her up for an album. There has also been talk of a Hollywood movie.

Morgan said he did not think Boyle would go back to her sheltered life. My prediction is she'll have a number one selling album around the world in the next four or five months.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland in London and Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles, editing by Vicki Allen)

United kingdom