The first round of auditions for Britain’s Got Talent started yesterday in Manchester, which saw a few new faces on the judging panel. Joining Amanda Holden this year will be Simon Cowell (yes, he has thankfully returned), David Walliams and Alesha Dixon.
Back in 2009, Simon brought Kelly Brook onto the panel, but ditched her after two days, saying that having four people on the line up simply didn’t work… let’s count the new judging panel again, shall we? – Simon, David, Amanda and Alesha – we make that four! So, what makes Simon think it could work now?
When Amanda was asked about the panel of four yesterday, she told The Sun, "You'll have to talk to Simon about Alesha, he booked her. It's a difficult one, but I think she's probably got something else — a brain."
David then commented that Kelly had failed to watch the show, meaning she as unfamiliar with it’s format, he said, "When Kelly did the show, she asked Ant and Dec what they did on it. I have seen the show, so I haven't made that mistake — and I've learned which is Ant and which is Dec, so I should be fine. The others have all judged before. I haven't but, you know, it should be OK. How hard can it be?"
Speaking about the new line-up and how he thought they’d get on with the experience, Simon said, “I'll let you know in a couple of hours, or maybe ten minutes! I'll tell them to do their jobs and not play up to the cameras.
“It literally is, 'Can you find a star, have you got an opinion, don't be afraid to argue, listen when I make a point'. We're judges, that's all you have to worry about."
Speaking about Kelly, he said, "That was a whole different situation because we didn't tell anyone, not even the other judges. She was a bit like a cuckoo in a nest. Actually we were the cuckoos — we kicked her out, it didn't work. We won't see a repeat of that."