Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts has blasted new judge Bruno Tonioli for his swearing.
The opera singer – who won the very first series of BGT back in 2007 – said the ex Strictly Come Dancing star “needs to ring in it”.
It comes after the 67-year-old dropped an expletive live on air during Tuesday night’s show, much to the disgust of viewers.
Judges were watching daredevil Andrew Stanton perform a series of gruesome tasks on stage.
This included sword swallowing and sticking giant springs up his nose to dragging a truck along the stage using hooks attached to his eye sockets.
There were screams of terror from the audience, while viewers at home struggled to watch the scenes.
But as the judges were called up to the stage to assist him, Bruno clearly wasn't keen as viewers believed they heard him shout "f***ing hell".
One fan tweeted: "Bruno just said 'f***ing hell Simon, not again'," as a second said: "Did he just say f***ing hell???"
Speaking after hosts Ant and Dec were forced to apologise to viewers, previous BGT winner Paul told Sky Bingo: “He [Bruno] needs to ring it in because some of the show is before the watershed.
“Bruno calmed the jumping up and down a bit yesterday, but he needs to watch his language because it’s a family show.”
Paul also said he believes he had an advantage when he appeared on the ITV talent show 16 years ago.
He revealed audiences were a lot smaller than and auditions took place in a theatre rather than a huge arena.
“When I was on Britain’s Got Talent, it was only 300 to 400 people... there is great energy in the theatre,” Paul shared.
The singer, who went on to become a huge star after the show, said he had noticed Simon has been “looking around a lot to see what the audience thinks”.
“I’ve noticed he’s looked behind a lot, assessing the audiences’ reactions, so the audience has been more important this year than other years,” Paul added.
The 52-year-old from Port Talbot in Wales was a Carphone Warehouse manager before appearing on Britain’s Got Talent.
But he stunned judges and viewers alike with his haunting rendition of Nessun Dorma to claim the £100,000 prize money and a place in the Royal Variety Performance.
Since then he has gone on to live his dream of being a professional singer, selling millions of records worldwide.
His debut album One Chance topped the charts in 13 countries and inspired the film of the same name starring James Corden.
It is estimated the tenor now has a net worth of around $10 million (£9.02 million) and made further talent show appearances in recent years, including on America’s Got Talent: The Champions.
Last year he released his biggest album yet and embarked on a tour, with more dates still to play in 2023.
And he revealed he is still in touch with mentor Simon Cowell after all this time and said it is “gratifying to have so much respect from him”.
*Britain’s Got Talent continues tonight on ITV from 8pm
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