Britain’s Got Talent viewers fume after Ant and Dec intervene in last-minute rule change

Britain’s Got Talent viewers were anything but impressed after a major rule change was introduced this week.

As per tradition, an act must get at least three ‘yeses’ from judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and KSI to go through to the next round, making a majority.

But tonight, at the last second, an unexpected switch-up secured one auditionee’s place in the competition after they were initially rejected.

From Newcastle, MC Tazo arrived onstage with a smile, having already been hyped up by fellow Geordies and hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly beforehand.

He explained to the panel that he had an eight-year-old and a 12-year-old, who were in the audience to support him and were ‘absolutely buzzing’ upon learning he was auditioning.

No further details were given ahead of his performance, but everything soon became clear as some intense music kicked in and he began hyping up the crowd.

‘Right, BGT, I wanna know, are you ready to have some fun out there?’, the 43-year-old gas engineer, whose real name is Kevin, shouted on the mic.

Encouraging everyone to put their hands in the air, he proceeded to rap about the show and yell for audience participation with, ‘When I say “Britain’s Got,” you say “Talent”.’

Kevin even managed to get boxer-turned-YouTuber KSI on his feet, who grooved through the whole thing.

As the performance came to a close, Simon had a smile on his face, and Ant and Dec were cheering from the wings… but Amanda and Alesha were in need of convincing.

‘I thought it was an absolute banger!’, declared KSI.

‘Love the energy, great vibes, got me out of my seat. I loved it,’ he screamed to the point where his voice was actually turning hoarse.

After KSI gave ‘the easiest yes of the night’, Simon told Kevin: ‘That was fun.

‘I think people are gonna like you, and I’m actually with KSI on this. I thought that was good. I liked it a lot. So I will say yes.’

Alas, Kevin needed three yeses to sail through, and it wasn’t going to come from Amanda, who admitted: ‘You’re lovely, but the song was not.’

After Simon’s attempt at guilt-tripping by reminding his fellow judges that the hopeful has ‘two young kids’, Mis-Teeq star Alesha said she was ‘hoping it was gonna be amazing’.

‘But it was slightly out of time, Kevin,’ she said, earning boos from the crowd, apologising before giving a hard ‘no’.

Ant and Dec were immediately gutted, rushing out onto the stage to intervene.

‘Can we just give a yes? That’s three yeses,’ asked Ant, which the crowd was more than happy to allow.

‘OK, right. We’ve changed the rules,’ Simon stated.

‘Two yeses,’ he said, pointing to himself and KSI, then pointing to the presenting duo: ‘Four yeses, you’re through.’

Ant and Dec celebrated and jumped to hug a relieved Kevin, although their rule change did not go down well with those watching at home.

Taking to X, @wonderthunder13 raged: ‘Make up the rules as we go along on’.

‘So what “talent” are Ant and Dec such fans of? I’ve got a headache’, said @rozlaws of the performance.

@SamFarmer2 added that while Kevin was a ‘nice guy’, his act was ‘terrible’, not warranting such a major format change.

@Anthony08876880 wrote, ‘2 “yes votes” and still through by a new rule’, while @MaddDeb even confessed they had ‘turned over’ after tuning in ‘for the first time in years tonight’.

This wasn’t the first time in the episode that Ant and Dec rubbed viewers up the wrong way either, with @JoeyKay20 fuming with how they had ‘overruled the rules so they get someone through’ after an ‘absolutely terrible show’.

Earlier on, they used their Golden Buzzer, which can be pressed once by each judge and the hosts to send an act they really love straight through to the semi-finals. Well, we say ‘once’, but in recent series, there have definitely been more than five used.

For 2026, Ant and Dec used theirs on comedian Ted Hill, which proved a controversial choice, as many insisted he was ‘not funny’.

‘l must be watching something else because l didn’t find Ted Hill funny at all. I don’t get what the judges were in hysterics about and for Ant and Dec to give him their golden buzzer??? I have lost the plot with this programme now’, vented @islandofangels.

@RyanSoapKing25 also argued that the performer ‘wasn’t that good’.

However, many defended the auditionee, who is autistic and used his autism as inspiration for jokes throughout his routine, such as poking fun at his love of graphs and data.

‘Ant and Dec *personally* found him funny and the whole point of the golden buzzer is that they can let whoever they enjoy through, thats what its for,’ said @peraltasbearcam. Gross that some people are using this to be ableist’.

Ted also earned a wealth of positive feedback from the judges, who called his act ‘so unique’ and ‘brilliant’, while other online commenters, including those who are neurodivergent, hailed him as ‘one of the most creative acts I’ve ever seen’ and ‘good at what he does’.

Britain’s Got Talent continues next Saturday on ITV1 and ITVX.

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