There was a surprising start to the Britain's Got Talent final when the judges weren't on the panel and had instead ben replaced by four completely different faces well known to viewers.
The ITV show has had a tricky few years due to the Covid pandemic, with the 2020 live shows and final delayed by months due to the first national lockdown and then last year's series scrapped completely after auditions couldn't take place when they were meant to due to restrictions.
After 18 months off our screens, Britain's Got Talent came back in style with a double header launch over Easter weekend and after months of audition episodes and a week of live semi finals, 11 finalists prepared to bid for victory in Sunday's grand final. But, as hosts Ant and Dec kicked things off, Simon Cowell, who found himself at the centre of a wildcard row; Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon were nowhere to be seen.
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The Geordie presenters were in the middle of introducing each of the acts one-by-one when they moved to the panel, but rather than the four judges being in their seats, they'd been replaced by singer Maxwell Thorpe, young comedian Eva Abley and their fellow finalists Ben Nickless and Aneeshwar Kunchala.
Fans at home were quick to react, with one taking to Twitter to post: "I like the new judging line up," with another joking: "I’d rather those lot as judges tbf."
First up in the final was young ventriloquist Jamie Leahey and his puppet Chuck, who earned a standing ovation from both the judges and the audience. After watching Jamie, David remarked the rest of the acts 'could go home now.'
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