There was joy among Britain's Got Talent fans this weekend as the show finally returned to screens after being cancelled last year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, and David Walliams retook their places on the judging panel as they witnessed more weird and wonderful acts as they try and find the country's next star who will win £250,000 and perform in front of the royal family at the Royal Variety Performance.
And the talent show returned to ITV with an average of 6.1 million viewers, the broadcaster said, as viewers saw an array of acts from a comedic robot to an original singer from The Greatest Showman as the talent show aired after two years.
But there wasn't a dry eye in the house when in a twist of events, an auditionee didn't even know he was set to perform in front of the judges before his mum and two daughters appeared on the stage as he sat in the audience.
Nick Edwards, 36, had a shock as his daughters Savannah and Cali, three and four, were brought on stage by his mother Tracey in a bid to convince him to audition which aired during Saturday night's return show (April 16). After nervously heading onto the stage, the dad-of-two told the judges he had “lost a lot of confidence” in himself over the years and tended to only sing in the shower.
After being given time to compose himself and get a bit of preparation backstage, Nick returned to the London Palladium stage to sing and play the guitar to Daddy’s Little Girl by Ernie Halter, which he dedicated to his daughters, as the song had become part of the “soundtrack of their life”.
His rendition pulled on the heartstrings of the crowd as judge Amanda Holden and host Declan Donnelly were brought to tears, with the Geordie presenter insisting he was 'fine' as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
Music mogul Simon Cowell added: "It was so sweet, you have a lovely voice," before David Walliams confirmed he had "4004 yeses", including the audience.
But it didn't stop eagle-eyed BGT viewers from believing they had spotted an issue with the 'surprise' audition after spotting that Nick was wearing a mic while sitting in the audience.
@EmalieWalsh said: "Hmm it’s a total surprise but he was already mic’d up? #BritainsGotTalent."
"Nick had no idea why he was in the #BGT audience Also Nick; wearing a microphone," @DavidMackayy tweeted alongside a close-up picture of Nick with the mic clearly visable.
@AviatorJoe94 commented: "I don’t believe that was a surprise at all, he’s mic’d up. #BGT."
"Oh FFS #BGT how was it a surprise to him? He already had a mic on him! These fake setups #britainsgottalent," @SpinninAlb wrote.
Britain’s Got Talent has since denied the claims that it was set-up and explained that an "unsuspecting" Nick was approached when he arrived to be part of a "Gogglebox" audience so that the ITV show could capture his reactions in the audience.
A spokesperson told the Daily Mail: "We loved welcoming back our BGT viewers back last night after a year away. To report or allude to anything being staged or contrived regarding Nick's audition would be false and incorrect.
"Quite simply, when Nick entered the Palladium auditorium during BGT auditions, he was approached to be part of our ‘Gogglebox’ audience and told he would be mic'd up so we could capture his reactions throughout the day as he sat in the audience. He was totally unsuspecting. We did this so we could mic him up without him suspecting a thing."
