Britain’s Got Talent’s live final will reportedly be filmed without a live studio audience.
The ITV show is currently on a break after its string of pre-recorded auditions, as live TV takes a backseat during the coronavirus pandemic.
And it has been claimed that as it stands, the grand live final will be filmed with just a skeleton crew, hosts Ant and Dec, and judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams, to protect staff and contestants.
A source told The Sun: ‘BGT bosses know they can keep production values sky high and that while the audience have some role to play, most of the reaction comes from the judges.
‘The plan is to make the show bigger and more daring than usual, distracting from the lack of the audience and making sure the judges are on the edge of their seats.’
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They added that if guidelines on social distancing change, they will consider using an audience – but for now, the two metre guidelines mean that the studio will be rather empty.
The pandemic – which has caused 52,000 deaths in the United Kingdom, including suspect cases – has meant that shows like Saturday Night Takeaway filmed without a studio audience for the first time, while other series, like The Voice, have delayed their finals and Love Island has been cancelled.
Earlier this year, ITV bosses admitted that the nature of the show was causing problems, as group acts will cause some difficulty when it comes to social distancing.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, head of entertainment Katie Rawcliffe said: ‘It looks like we will have to do some shows without audiences.
‘This whole experience has brought out more creativity in people and the best in people, we all have to think a bit harder about how we do things.
‘I think we can get around generally speaking, an audience, it’s where, with Britain’s Got Talent, where you have groups of people performing together, how are we going to do that, that’s going to be the real test. There’s that bunch of Indian kids, the dance troupe… that will be a severe challenge.
‘The Masked Singer (was) a pre-recorded show, is more manageable for us and the production staff to do, in an enclosed, guarded space.’
And the delay throws up another challenge in the form of BGT now going head to head with BBC’s ratings juggernaut Strictly Come Dancing when it returns this autumn – although Strictly has even more issues to contend with, considering the whole premise is previously unrelated duos in close proximity.
It has been suggested that professional dancers may have to isolate together before the series starts, which will do nothing to dampen Strictly curse speculation.
Metro.co.uk has contacted a rep for Britain’s Got Talent for comment.
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