‘You never know what’s going to happen next’
◆ Returning for his second season as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, Bruno Tonioli talks to Lauren Taylor about the thrill of working on the show
Bruno Tonioli is returning to take his seat on the judging panel in the new series of ITV1’S Britain’s Got Talent, saying it felt “like yesterday” when he reunited with the other judges, Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden.
“It feels like we never left. It feels like we just stopped,” says the British-italian TV personality, who made his debut on the show last year.
For a 17th season, the newest batch of hopefuls will perform to the judges, hosts Ant and Dec and an audience in a bid to go on to win £250,000 in cash and a spot on the bill of the Royal Variety Performance.
“We all have different things [going on in between]. They all have families, Amanda works like madness, Alicia has got all the projects, I saw Simon privately but we didn’t even talk about the show. It’s a holiday, we don’t want to talk about work!”
The 68-year-old replaced David Walliams after 10 years on the panel in 2023, and he says accepting the offer to return for another series was a no-brainer. “I had such a good time, of course I’ll do it again!”
Tonioli – known for his excitable manner and big personality – spent 18 years as a judge on BBC’S Strictly Come Dancing but for his debut on BGT he admitted being nervous. “Because I’ve known Simon forever, and when you work with a friend, there is more pressure. This is someone I’ve known for 40 years and he brought me in, so there’s a slight extra pressure not to let him down,” he says.
Britain’s Got Talent, which was won by Norwegian comedian Viggo Venn last year, first aired in 2007, with Piers Morgan as part of the original line up, and Tonioli says the show is as important as ever.
Whether it’s singers, dancers, magicians, circus acts or comedians, “great artists need this opportunity”, he says. “We give them a window of exposure that otherwise they wouldn’t have. It’s the only show that does that.
“People out there need the support, lots of places are closed. The opportunity is slimmer and slimmer.
“And we hopefully give them that, [and they] get bookings and they get more work.”
This series, we can expect “incredible talent” he says, including a few really good choirs.
“They’re really, really long days [of filming] but they just fly because there are so many surprises. It’s moving, it’s empowering, it’s life affirming. Some are terrible. You never really know what’s going to happen next, it’s brilliant.”
The golden buzzers – which judges (and Ant and Dec) can press to give their favourite contestants a place in the live semi-finals – were flying, Tonioli says. There is a record nine in this series and it could be anything that makes him hit his.
“It’s a moment that you feel so involved, you feel it in your stomach. When you see a kid that puts so much heart and soul into something that you feel ‘they need my support’.”
Tonioli got so excited by one act early on the first day of filming at the London Palladium, he actually broke the golden buzzer – which Cowell called “hysterical”.
He was so impressed by dance group Ghetto Kids he hit it halfway through the performance, not realising the buzzers are meant to be pressed after it’s over.
Since last year, the rule book has been torn up and golden buzzers can be hit multiple times by the same person, which Mcpartlin says makes the auditions “chaotic”.
“There’s chaos backstage, chaos out the front, and chaos onstage…,” he says.
And, for Dixon, sitting next to Tonioli on the judging table is like “sitting next to an excitable puppy or toddler! Bruno gives you that lift in a session when you need a bit of a pick-me-up. He just injects that passion and that’s always appreciated, but of course, like any toddler or puppy, occasionally they need to be told to sit down and behave!”
Contestants will be hoping to avoid the dreaded red buzzers though, which could cut their time on the show short.
While many performances are simply very impressive, some acts share moving stories, too.
Tonioli says: “Some people you realise have been through incredibly harrowing experiences and you learn from them and the way they deal with it, how positive [they are] and how they can laugh at themselves, their sense of humour.
“It’s just such a wide range of experiences that you get from the show that I find mindblowing really.”
The element of surprise in terms of what talent a performer reveals makes it very different to judging Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing With The Stars, which he had been a judge on in the US since the show started in 2005.
“Because you’re commenting on each act individually, in terms of what they do. On Dancing With The Stars and Strictly they all compete against each other, we know what to look for in each dance – it’s very specific… we know ahead what has to be delivered. So [BGT] is a completely different kettle of fish.”
For example, “Comedy, you can comment on content. Maybe the content will be very good, but the delivery is wrong, timing is wrong, they don’t know how to place the joke and kill it.”
Regardless of what the act is, as BGT’S newest judge, “you can draw on all your experience in the industry for 40 years”.
Britain’s Got Talent returns to ITV1 and ITVX on Saturday at 7:30pm.