He may ruin dreams weekly on “The X Factor,” but put Simon Cowell on a yacht in the south of France and he’s a regular citizen hero!

Yesterday Simon Cowell was cruising along on his yacht in St. Tropez with his ex-girlfriend Sinitta (Rumor Control: Are they back together?) he got a distress call that a nearby boat was sinking.

Simon told the captain of his boat to check out the situation and used his yacht as a lifeboat! According to the Standard, his rescue mission saved the lives of nine people!

Sinitta also tweeted about the rescue assuring us that everyone was fine!

OMG!! Just had a May Day message , 35ft boat sinking.. SC has sent us to help and rescue 9 people on board! Slipstream look alike boat

— Sinitta (@sinittaofficial) August 29, 2012

Everyone ok, noone hurt.captain won't let boat sink, petrol in sea etc would cause major problems and fines. No tide, so hole plugged

— Sinitta (@sinittaofficial) August 29, 2012

I think that last cryptic tweet translates roughly to: Nobody got hurt, but there is oil in the sea. That could be a problem? There wasn’t a tide so the captain plugged the hole of the sinking ship?

I think that's what she said, but don’t quote me on twitterspeak.

Wow, Simon Cowell. Mogul. Judge. A$$hole. Millionaire. HERO.