A former Britain’s Got Talent contestant has detailed the behind-the-scenes process of auditioning on the hit ITV talent show, labelling the auditions “fake”.
TikToker Gracie May, 16, posted a snippet video to the social media platform sharing her experience auditioning for the talent show aged nine alongside her performing company.
Gracie revealed that during the auditions producers filmed elements out of sequence, asking candidates to record their post-audition reactions before even taking to the stage.
She recalled recording one version for if they went through with four yeses and another for if they didn’t.
She said: “Those videos of people at the end of the acts running out really happy because they got four yeses or them leaving sad with their family - that is all lies.
“We filmed those videos three hours before we even went on stage while we were waiting.”
She continued: “We didn't even get on stage until 8.30pm - it was so late - and we got there at 9am, so in all that spare time they had us go out into the foyer and pretend.
“Then they would use that according to whatever happened in your audition - if they aired your audition.”
Gracie's also shared that her dance group received four yeses from the judges, but then said “nothing happened after” and they did not go through to the live shows.
She said: “Even if you get four yeses you don't necessarily go through. We got four yeses and then nothing happened after that. They just didn't ask us back.”
Gracie also pointed out that the long queues of hopefuls waiting to audition will have done at least nine or 10 auditions in front of the producers prior to the live show stage.
Britain's Got Talent returned to our screens over the weekend, after two years off-air due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
After the forced hiatus, judges Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon all reunited to once again search for the country's next big star, and unearth some previously undiscovered talent.
However, within hours of the first show premiering on ITV on Saturday night, speculation began that certain aspects of the show had been 'fixed' - with several auditions causing a few eyebrows to be raised by viewers tuned in at home.
The most controversial moment from the opening episode came as singer Loren Allred gave a breathtaking rendition of Never Enough from The Greatest Showman soundtrack - only to receive a Golden Buzzer for the performance.
It was revealed on Saturday night's show that Loren was actually the original voice behind the musical movie's smash hit single - the very song she belted out for her audition.
In the second episode, comedian Axel Blake impressed judges, the audience and viewers with his charming persona and witty jokes on Saturday night's show - receiving a Golden Buzz pass through to the live semi-finals from Simon.
However, many were quick to point out how Axel, 33, is already a pretty successful stand-up comedian with a show on one of the world's biggest streaming platforms, Amazon Prime.
The Mirror has contacted Britain's Got Talent for comment.
