Amanda Holden says Britain’s Got Talent will have ‘more amateur’ acts this year following fix accusations

Amanda Holden has revealed there will be “more amateur” acts in the new series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52, has spoken out about the accusations that last year’s BGT series was a fix, as a number of the acts in the final were revealed to already have professional careers.

Viewers were disappointed last year to see the number of ‘professional’ acts taking to the stage, including the winner of the series, comedian Axel Blake, 34. After being crowned winner of the 15th series, it emerged that the comedian had already released his own Amazon show, ‘Axel Blake: I’m Not Gonna Lie.’

Last year, Amanda awarded the coveted golden buzzer to singer Loren Allred, 33, despite her having already received huge success for voicing the hit song, ‘Never Enough’, from The Greatest Showman.

According to Mail Online, Amanda has defended the ITV show by claiming that the reason for the influx of professional acts last year was because many of them struggled during the pandemic.

She insists this year’s series which begins on Saturday has “more amateur” acts taking part.

Amanda said: “It feels more home grown [this year]. It feels like stuff people would be doing in their bedrooms and less professionals this year, but the standard is still exceptionally high.”

The Heart FM host continued: “Last year, we had a lot of people who had struggled professionally because of lockdown - a lot of people that needed to remind themselves and their audience that they could do it.”

“But this year, I think it’s evened out again and it’s back to more amateur, home grown people queuing up and coming in,” she added.

The line-up of judges had been overhauled for the new series, with ex-Strictly judge, Bruno Tonioli, 67, joining the panel, following David Walliams departure after 10 years.

During filming, new judge Bruno let slip that he had never seen the show before, despite being enjoyed by millions since 2007.

Bruno expressed his excitement during filming, saying: “Oh, it’s incredible! I mean, honestly, I’ve had such a good time! Really, really, really good.”

He continued: “It is completely new for me, I told Simon, I have never watched the show before. I want to feel free to give it my own personal spin, not copy what someone before me has done, if that makes sense.”

“This is like live theatre. It’s a proper variety show like we used to get. And I always loved that. Let me tell you, some of the talent we’ve seen during auditions…absolutely incredible. Wow!” he added.

Britain’s Got Talent returns on Saturday 15 April, at 8pm and Sunday 16 April, at 7:45pm on ITV1 and ITVX.