Britain's Got Talent taken off the air in surprise TV scheduling shake-up

This weekend sees a huge TV scheduling shake-up on Saturday night as ITV competition Britain's Got Talent has been removed and replaced by a very different show

Britain's Got Talent has been pulled off air this weekend in an unexpected scheduling move. The hit ITV talent competition has been airing its semi-final for the past three weeks on Saturday nights.

Remaining contestants have been giving all they have got to impress show judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli for a spot in the 2025 final at the end of the month. The family favourite show usually kicks off at 7pm on Saturdays until 9pm.However, this week will be very different as Britain's Got Talent has been booted out of its usual slot. In a huge move by show bosses, it will miss out on primetime scheduling.

Instead, viewers will be tuning into ITV to watch the FA Cup Final as Crystal Palace and Manchester City go head to head at Wembley. The football match kicks off at 3pm, but scheduling bosses have allowed for any run over time.

Britain's Got Talent semi-finals are running every weekend till the end of the month(Image: ITV)

It means Saturday night telly will look very different at the match will be followed by Deal or No Deal Celebrity Special, Beat The Chasers, and The 1% Club, instead.

Britain's Got Talent will air its next live semi-final on Sunday from 7 to 9pm. The move also sees the show not have to compete with the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The ITV talent show will conclude on Saturday 31 May as two more semi-finals will take place before then. This past weekend saw dance act Ping Pong Pang secured a spot in the final alongside drag queen opera singer Jasmine Rice.

The two acts will next perform in the 2025 final. Jasmine Rice received the Golden Buzzer vote from Bruno Tonioli that put her straight into the final.

It meant Jasmine didn't need to go through the nail-biting results at the end of the show as she secured her spot straight after her show-stopping performance.

The other acts, however, had to wait until all the viewers votes had been counted to know their fate. Coming in last was danger man Bao, followed by musician Rumac. He had a though time on stage, having received buzzers from Bruno, Amanda and Alesha but managed to carry on performing.

Rumac was followed by Harry and Lewsi, Mickey Callisto, Albert Amores and Electric Umbrella. It meant dance group Ping Pong Pang had secured enough votes to send them into the final alongside Jasmine Rice.

The pair join Vinnie McKee (singer), The Blackouts (dance group), Stacey Leadbeatter (singer), Olly Pearson (guitarist) already in the final.

This weekend's scheduling move hasn't been the first of the series as Britain's Got Talent started in February this year rather than its usual April slot. And instead of a week of semi-finals, they are being spread out and shown on Saturday nights instead.

The upcoming final will see the last remaining BGT contestants hope to impress the judges and the public one last time for a chance to win £250,000 and a spot performing at the Royal Variety Performance.