Britain’s Got Talent viewers 'switch off' on first…

Britain’s Got Talent viewers 'switch off' on first episode with same complaint

Last night, Britain's Got Talent returned to our screens for the 2023 series with a brand new line-up.

Despite the show's comeback with brand new judge Bruno Tonioli - viewing figures were down, newly released stats have revealed.

According to The Mirror, half a million fewer viewers tuned into the show than last year, when the show came back on air for the first time since the pandemic.

ITV revealed that the first episode of the 16th series had an average of 5.5 million viewers based on overnight figures. The peak viewing figure of the premiere of the talent show on Saturday at 8pm was 6.2 million viewers.

When the show returned last year on ITV on a Saturday evening, it had an average of 6.1 million viewers and a TV audience peak of 7.2 million after two years off air due to Covid.

However, the broadcaster said BGT is ITV's most-watched show of the year.

When the show aired back last night, many viewers took to Twitter to comment on it.

Many expressed their frustration with the show's editing and some said they felt that there were too many slow motion moments and the judges and audience were shown more than the acts themselves.

Ant and Dec were back hosting too, waiting in the wings to speak to the contestants before they tried to impress the judges with their performances.

However, just moments in fans blasted the new editing format, with some branding it 'awful'.

One wrote: "Why do they show the audience, judges and Ant and Dec more than the acts? Not to mention the ridiculous slo-mo shots. Both the editing and production are horrendous."

As another said: "#BGT better in the early years, less editing and no scripts in place to enhance acts @ITV."

Another added: "The editing on all the acts on #BGT is awful - all the slowed down bits etc?"

While one commented: "The awful editing and manipulation of the audience reactions to everything is already jarring."

The episode was Bruno Tonioli's debut as the newest member of the judging panel.

Bruno replaced usual judge David Walliams after he stepped down from the role.

And on his first day he even used his golden buzzer.

The former Strictly judge was wowed by a dance group called Ghetto Kids, who were aged between five and 13 years old.

They danced their hearts out to a medley of songs, but before they were only half way through their routine, Bruno hit the golden buzzer, sending them through to the live shows.

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Britain’s Got Talent viewers 'switch off' on first episode with same complaint

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