New contestants hope to impress
What does it take to win Britain’s Got Talent? (Saturday, ITV1, 7.30pm).
If anyone should know, it’s Simon Cowell – although he’s had to miss a few shows in the fifth and fourteenth series, he’s been with the show since it began in 2007. However, even he admits that he can’t always predict who the public will take to their hearts. Cowell says: “I mean, if you had told me after his first audition that [2023 champion Viggo Venn] was going to win, I’d be like, ‘Yeah, right.’ But then it happened.
“And the great thing about this show is it doesn't matter. Whoever the public chooses, the public chooses, and I really think they get it right most years. I really, really do.”
He adds: “There's always someone I feel bad for, of course. But you can just never predict who the public will love. Though, interestingly, this year, when we were discussing the finals, we went round the room and said who we think might win and there was one person everyone gravitated towards. It’s going to be interesting.
“I’m excited for this year, let’s see who the public picks as their winner.”
It seems they should have plenty of great performers to choose from as this year as a record nine acts were given the coveted golden buzzer – and it could feedback after the current series, saying: “It’s going to be an amazing show this year. It's just different and it's fun and it's got everything you want from BGT. “It's got a heart, great stories, things we'd never seen before, which is important because you don't want to just keep repeating the same thing year on year. So overall, I couldn't be happier.”
It’s also got Ant and Dec, proving they aren’t turning their backs on primetime Saturday Night TV after delivering their final episode of Takeaway last week.
Cowell’s fellow judges are back too as Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and Bruno Tonioli join him on the panel, and it sounds like they’ve been having fun.