Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Britain’s Got Talent is back
AMANDA
AMANDA Holden says it will be hard to be on a socially distanced judging panel.
The 49-year-old said: “Being a metre apart will be annoying because we’re a very emotive judging panel and we hug one another if an act has been particularly emotional and set one of us off crying.”
She said was excited to get back together with her fellow judges but said it was “going to feel weird with new rules in place”. She added: “There will be laughter and I’m sure there will be tears, too.
“What you see is what you get. Alesha and I keep in touch the most.”
Asked if she was looking forward to seeing her golden buzzer act again, Amanda said: “Sammy and
Honey are just so lovely. I started thinking I was going to press my golden buzzer, and then it started to go wrong for them, Simon waded in and I wasn’t sure all of a sudden.
“Apparently, all the producers on the show caught me looking at the golden buzzer a few times and were like: “Watch out, she’s going to blow!” And eventually, I did. It’s just that feeling you get.
“I just loved that it was one of those unpolished acts, I just know there will be mums and their daughters across the country who will connect with them.”
Don’t know how I’d feel if I walked out to perform & there was no one there
There will be laughter and I’m sure there will be tears, too
ALESHA
ALESHA Dixon says the show is the perfect antidote to coronavirus misery.
The 41-year-old said of the previously televised auditions: “I remember when BGT went out, at that time we all thought, ‘Wow, this is what people need. They need a bit of silliness and a bit of fun.’ At that time, it was all doom and gloom.”
“Now I kind of feel, again, going into the semi-final shows, people need that little pick me up.”
Asked how the atmosphere will be affected without a live audience, she said: “We have had to adapt. It’s going to be different from what everyone is used to but everyone’s working hard to make sure we still have that special vibe to the show.
“Even for me as a performer, it’s a very hard one to predict or to call how it’s going to go. I don’t actually know how I would feel if I walked out to perform and there was no one there.” Alesha feels her judging role will be harder without the interaction from the audience.
She explained: “Because in a way the audience feeds off us, we feed off of them. I think we will be very mindful and compassionate to the contestants that they are in a unique situation.”
She said the audience usually acted as a “fifth judge” and added of this year’s performers: “They don’t have that. They don’t have them on their side. So even more, they’ve got to prove themselves.”
People might adapt their acts as a result of these changes
ASHLEY
DIVERSITY star Ashley Banjo has said it feels “bittersweet” to join the BGT judging panel while Simon Cowell recovers from back surgery.
The 31-year-old street dancer said the year had been “full of horrible news” and that hearing of Cowell’s accident had been especially difficult.
The 60-year-old music mogul broke his back falling off a new electric bike at his house in Malibu. Banjo, who shot to fame when Diversity won the third series of BGT in 2009, said: “There are a few people over the course of Diversity’s career who have been integral and had a huge impact, and Simon’s one of those.
“So, to hear that he had had the accident was horrible. I’m just so glad to hear he’s recovering well.” Banjo denied feeling nerves over joining the panel and suggested that no one could ever truly replace Cowell.
He said: “That’s the thing, if I was stepping in for any of the other judges... I’d feel nervous about it being big shoes to fill.
“But with Simon his shoes are well and truly on, no one can ever replace him or fill his shoes.
“I just feel like I am doing a job for him because Simon can never be replaced in that way.
“I’m just an addition to the panel, that’s the way I see it.
“Anyone sitting in Simon’s chair would have to bring a level of respect where people go, ‘Do you know what? That person knows what they are talking about’.
“There’s no one more qualified than Simon when it comes to judging variety acts, and if you’re going to sit on that panel you better have some decent qualifications. But I think in terms of the niche of BGT I am a weirdly qualified person purely because of my journey on the show.”
Cowell’s sometimes scathing comments about contestants earned him the nickname Mr Nasty, but Banjo said he would try to be as honest as possible.
He said: “I’ll be tough on everyone. I won’t be Mr Mean, just Mr Honest. With a show like BGT there’s no mucking about.
“It’s not a celeb-based show, it’s not like everyone’s there just for entertainment, this is life-changing stuff. I’m going to be... questioning what they are doing, ‘Why would you use your two minutes to show the world what they can do and then do that?’ If that’s how I feel, then I’ll say it.”
DAVID
DAVID Walliams says he has enjoyed the lockdown period, not least because he’s had so much time to spend with his seven-year-old son Alfred.
He said of his injured boss Simon: “Apparently, Simon’s been cooking, I saw him cook some beans on toast once and I was amazed at that! The good thing is that we’re all parents with young kids and that’s something I have personally really enjoyed, being able to spend so much more time with my son.”
Having no audience will be harder for some acts, he said, explaining: “A singer can come in and sing their song and that’s fine, but a comic usually plays off the reaction in the room. “So, it will be tougher for them. I don’t know if people might adapt their acts as a result of these changes, it will be interesting to see the creativity some of them will come up with.”
..AND SIMON
SIMON Cowell feared Britain’s Got Talent might not return this year due to the pandemic.
Before breaking his back in a bike accident, he said: “Yeah, for a moment but then I thought, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’.
“I just thought if we can talk to each other all over the world on Zoom then there must be a way for us to do the live shows.
“When you watch the semi-finals and final you’re going to see
something you’ve never seen before, it’s very hi-tech.”
Cowell, 60, recalled the pre-recorded audition stages airing in the first months of the pandemic. He said: “I remember watching the first cut of the first audition episode and thinking how perfect it was to escape from all the craziness of
Covid for a moment.
“It was sad when we had to put the last audition show out
not knowing if we would definitely get to do the remaining semi-finals. “But we are all excited to complete the series.”
Joking about social distancing measures, he said: “I think we’re going to have the longest judges’ desk in the world.
“That’s the plus side to come out of all this, that David has to stay far away from me for the foreseeable future.”