Britain’s Got Talent has made a massive change to its semi-finals after 18 years of airing the last stage of the competition across one week. The semi-final stage of the competition is fast approaching, with just one last pre-recorded episode left to air.
ITV announced today that the semi-finals will now air every Saturday night over five weekends, instead of consecutive days leading up to the final. The first of the semi-finals will air on Saturday 26 April from 7pm. ITV said: “Britain’s Got Talent will be more entertaining than ever before, not only with the addition of the Golden Buzzer for the live shows, but the semi-finals will now air live every Saturday night, claiming the weekends as the home of BGT. Be prepared for unpredictable, unmissable and unbeatable event television.”
All semi-finals will air on a Saturday, except for the fourth – which will take place on Sunday 18 May instead.
In each of the semi-finals, the judges and Ant and Dec will be given control of the new Golden Buzzer – which pushes someone straight through to the final. Richard Arnold announced the news on Good Morning Britain today, sharing: “I can exclusively reveal another change to this year’s format, introducing the brand new live semi-final golden buzzer!
“For the first time in BGT history, the buzzer will now appear during the live rounds. It has already been pressed eight times this series.”
In each semi-final, either Ant and Dec or a judge will be given control of the new Golden Buzzer, with just one opportunity to press it. Whoever receives the Golden Buzzer will be fast-tracked through to the final without being subject to the public vote.
The news comes after last weekend’s pre-recorded show, which saw Simon Cowell halt an audition to ask for a different song. After Louise Hall, 29, performed a rendition of Jacob Banks’ Something Beautiful, Simon stopped her to say: “I think if you’re gonna do this and this obviously means a lot to you, I think you’ve really got to stop overthinking this for a second and just let go. That was kind of like what I call a polite audition.”
Louise said: “Okay, I’ll fight in this one for you.” The judge however replied: “For yourself, I think you should.”
Join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News , Flipboard , Apple News, TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads – or visit The Mirror homepage.
Get all the jungle gossip with our I’m A Celebrity newsletter
