A Britain’s Got Talent fan was in the audience during the taping of one of the live auditions and came to a “sad” realisation about the hit show which has been on our screens since 2007
A Britain’s Got Talent fan was stunned after making a “sad” realisation about how the show is made – and how the audience reactions are captured. The long-running talent show was dreamt up by Simon Cowell and first hit the screens in June 2007, fronted by then-judges Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan.
This year, the show aired its 18th season with Cowell and Holden still in the judging seats, alongside singer and TV personality Alesha Dixon, and new permanent judge, YouTube content creator and Prime Hydration sports drink co-founder, KSI. The format sees people of all ages showcasing a wide range of talents from singing, dancing, gymnastics and magic tricks, to animal acts, impersonations, fire eaters, and much more.
Auditionees who are successful in the first round of open auditions move through to the Judges auditions, typically filmed in a theatre or convention hall in front of the judges and a live audience, move to the next round – the semi-finals, where hopefuls perform again in front of the judges and a live audience, with a combination of the public votes and the judges’ decisions deciding which acts progress to the final.
In the live final, the performers hope to claim the top prize – a £250,000 cash prize and a spot to perform at the annual Royal Variety Performance – which is decided by a public vote. Viewers and fans of the show are able to request free tickets to be part of the audience via Applause Store.
One woman attended filming of the auditions and was disappointed by what she saw. Sitting in the crowd, she filmed the warm-up presenter and branded the audience reactions seen on screen as “fake”.
A warm-up presenter is a common addition to many televised shows. Usually, they’re comedians who help entertain and energise the studio audience before and during the long hours of filming.
This is to help create a lively atmosphere, while ensuring the crowd appears responsive and lively while on camera, adding to the overall feel and vibe of the show viewers watching at home expect. But audience attendee Katie Beresford was disappointed by this and shared snippets from her experience in a video posted to TikTok.
Over the top of the footage, she penned: “Going to Britain’s Got Talent realising the audience reactions are all fake. They just make you fake it all at the start”.
In the comments section, fellow social media users were keen to share their thoughts. One person said: “22 yrs I been on this earth and have never seen anyone show this POV”.
Another quipped: “Basically unpaid actors”. One person shared an image of someone crying and said: “My whole childhood has been a lie”.
Another said: “When I went there was a golden buzzer and because the crowd wasn’t loud enough they filmed the golden buzzer again and made us cheer again but ‘louder’ I cringed so hard”.
Someone else quipped: “Welcome to the world of Television Production.” Another commented: “I work in TV, this is normal for basically everything you’ve ever seen with an audience”.
And another added: “Omg I was shocked when I went!! They even missed capturing one of the judges press the golden buzzer so we had to do it all again and stand up and cheer”.
ITV has been approached for comment.
