Britain's Got Talent live shows returned to our screens tonight on ITV, as a number of hopeful contestants battled it out for a place in the final. For the first time, the semi-finals will air every Saturday night over five weekends instead of consecutively over one week.
This means the final will now occur on Saturday, May 31. If that change to the show's format wasn't enough, ITV have also announced that the Golden Buzzer will be back for the live shows.
In previous years, the powerful buzzer was used in the audition process, sending contestants straight through to the finals. However, this year, the Golden Buzzer will also make an appearance during the live shows. Each judge, Ant, and Dec will be allowed to use the buzzer on Saturday night.
The first performance of the live shows was by Heavysaurus. The heavy metal/hard rock band from Germany was formed in 2017. The band wants to help children connect with their style of music.
The group delivered a range of classic songs, from Joan Jett, The Darkness and Guns N' Roses, mashed into one, while the members were dressed as dinosaurs and dragons.
Similarly, at the group's first performance at Blackpool, they played hits from Queen and Bon Jovi.
Following the live show performance, the judges didn’t seem impressed with Alesha, claiming it wasn’t her cup of tea but could still appreciate the talent. Whereas Simon was a lot more blunt in his criticism.
Simon, who pressed the red buzzer, said: “I’m surprised we started the live shows with an act that is never going to win. It was dinosaurs doing karaoke. It didn’t feel real and felt very weak.”
It seemed those at home were also left feeling the same way. Many viewers took to X, formerly Twitter, to express how they felt, with a handful asking if they were watching the right show.
One fan wrote: “Masked Singer rip off”, whereas Jemma said: “When did #BGT turn into The Masked Singer?”.
Chris added: “The Masked singer? #BGT” and Sophie wrote: “Isn't this just the masked singer without celebrities underneath?”. Daz penned: “It's gone to The Masked Singer.” A separate fan added: “This was like a Masked Singer x BGT crossover.”
You can see the full list of semi-finalists here.
