Is Kasparov a simul chicken?

I also went fairly recently to watch my dad play Shirov in a clock simul. One of the oposition was sick so there was an empty seat, I would never have sat down, as I figured it would be incorrect with my current 2350 rating (Shirov is barely still above 2700) but in fact after a short hesitation Shirov not only let me play, but was quite encouraging. He even gave me the white pieces (half the players had white, half had black). Despite this he demolished the field and won quite a nice game against me (after a complicated struggle, in a position Houdini claims equality despite a 2 pawn edge for me(!), I made a mistake which was ruthlessly punished). Final score 19.5-0.5! (My dad, a 2200, scored the only draw...)