Susan Boyle is likely to miss a British tour and put a trip to the US on hold, having been admitted to a clinic after losing in the final of Britain’s Got Talent.

Boyle was taken to the Priory in North London on Sunday and remains a patient. Her treatment is being paid for by Simon Cowell, the pop impresario and show panellist, and TalkbackThames, which described her as “exhausted and emotionally drained”.

The final was seen by 19.2 million people, the biggest audience for a TV programme for five years. ITV made £5 million in advertising revenue on Saturday — twice as much it would usually make.

ITV has received relatively few complaints about the pressure on the singer, who has learning difficulties. But Chris Thompson, of the Priory Group, said that programme-makers needed to take care of contestants. “That Susan Boyle appears to have broken down in some way so close to the end of the series suggests there is a link. I would want to know that people being exposed to such pressures are given proper care.”

TalkbackThames said that Boyle would be taking only “a few days out for rest and recovery”, but the Priory indicated that it was unlikely that she would be available in time for the Britain’s Got Talent show tour, which begins on June 12. Professor Thompson said that patients were expected to have a 21-day course of treatment. “You have to be referred here by a GP. We are talking about people with a diagnosable mental disorder.”

Boyle was admitted after becoming distressed at her hotel. A source close to the show said: “She asked to see a doctor and was seen by a GP and a paramedic. They decided she needed some time out.” The Metropolitan Police said that officers had attended to help “doctors assessing a woman under the Mental Health Act”. An ambulance was also called. It is understood that Boyle was not sectioned.

Gordon Brown, appearing on GMTV, said that he had asked Cowell about her health on Sunday, adding: “I hope Susan Boyle is OK because she is a really, really nice person and I think she will do well.”

In the US, news of Boyle’s failure to win made the morning news bulletin on National Public Radio. For weeks, her progress has been covered by cable networks and became a favourite subject on the Drudge Report website, where her admission to the clinic was a lead story.

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