Britain's Got Talent is already dealing with controversy shortly after its return, with fans calling out the show since many of them believe Nick Edwards' BGT audition was staged. The show is a British variation of America's Got Talent, and it is now in season 15. The competition series has consistently been running annually since 2007, but due to the pandemic, the network that airs the show, ITV, canceled BGT for a year. The reality competition series has produced many stars, including British TV personality Megan McKenna and British magician Richard Jones.
In the past, BGT has been accused of being scripted and contrived. In 2016, British comedian Simon Brodkin disguised himself as a Jewish person named Steven Goldblatt who was a rapper. He is a known prankster and his aim of being on the show was to see how long he would last and to also figure out why most of the acts that make it past the audition rounds have sob stories. Brodkin created a sob story on BGT and raps of his own, and he spoke to media outlets to say that he was coached and given suggestions on how to make his audition better. Once his identity was revealed, he was disqualified from the show and BGT producers also spoke to media outlets to disprove the claims.
The competition series made a return to ITV on April 16. According to reports from The Sun, fans believe that a heartwarming audition from Nick Edwards was actually staged. Edwards was supposedly a "regular" member of the audience, and while sitting, he saw his mother and daughters Savannah and Cali appear on the stage. Edwards' family supposedly surprised him with the audition because they wanted him to sing a song that he sings for his daughters. Judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams were smitten with the family, and the entire audition brought many viewers, in person and online, to tears. But fans online began to point out that the "surprised" auditioner was already mic'd up even before getting on the stage. The reports pointed out that fans took to Twitter to react to the audition, and some users questioned how Edwards' guitar was readily available for the audition. They were also curious about whether the auditioner was wondering where his daughters were. Twitter user Mica Blackwell said, "Honestly find it hilarious Simon Cowell thinks the viewers aren't privy to the blatant staging & manipulative editing after over a decade."
The producers of BGT responded to the claims about the audition by saying, "To report or allude to anything being staged or contrived regarding Nick's audition would be false and incorrect. He was totally unsuspecting. We did this so we could mic him up without him suspecting a thing." Though producers are claiming the audition was not fake, it should be noted that for auditioners to appear in front of the judges, acts need to submit a video audition that needs to be approved by producers. When submitting a video, acts are asked to create a performer profile where they answer questions about themselves. Once approved, the acts go through an initial audition process that could last for months. After this process, selected acts are invited to perform at the BGT audition on national TV. Therefore, for Edwards' audition to be a surprise, he would have had to skip all these initial processes.
ITV's Britain's Got Talent has only aired one episode but has also received heat because singer and songwriter Loren Allred received a golden buzzer after performing her song "Never Enough," which she sang for the 2017 musical film The Greatest Showman. Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly continue to host the show, and the series airs weekly on ITV until the semifinals.
Sources: The Sun, Mica Blackwell/Twitter