Britain's Got Talent

I can barely stomach the American version, so I thought I'd check out its progenitor to see if they did things better or with more panache across the Atlantic.

Well, no.

It's the fact that I recognized several actors that appear on imported British shows here in the U.S. that made me laugh and then want to kick the messenger that was my TV for another trash ridden pre-staged show.

Don't believe me? The most glaring example was an actor from Doctor Who whom I saw more than a few days before doing his dance routine on this show, Britain's Got Talent.

Another glaring example was the fat kid and the good looking girl, and, shock of shocks, the fat kid decided not to let his less talented partner go, garnishing much applause from the talent (he said sarcastically).

I'd estimate roughly over half of this show is staged, with the rest being one-shot acts of people who are good at doing one thing, and nothing more, then get their "big shot" on stage, and move on afterwards.

What's worse is that people, apparently mostly girls, eat up this junk. Well, it's far too late for me to warn folks not to watch it, but, on the one in a million chance you haven't seen it, and have stumbled upon my review, do yourself a favor and avoid this thing. OR, if you need a good laugh, then tune in for an episode or two, smirk, then change the channel.

Either way, watch at your own risk.

Britain's Got Talent is an entertaining talent show, that is very addictive to watch. It is true though that some of the people who went on the show were laughable like the singing saxophone(Simon summed it up perfectly when comparing it to a baby crying), though in the recent series there have been revelations like Diversity, Susan Boyle and I am probably the only one who was very surprised by Hollie Steele, despite her meltdown in the semi final. Ant and Dec are very entertaining presenters too, not annoying, actually funny mostly. The judges are fine, Piers has said a number of very unfair things in the past, and there have been a number of times when I have disagreed with his decision-making. Amanda Holden, I know is an actress, but she is very beautiful and encouraging, so I don't mind her. Simon seems a lot less critical than he is on the X Factor, yes he has said some nasty things, but he does tell the truth(well most of the time) but sometimes doesn't put it in the right way. Britain's Got Talent is very entertaining, especially in the audition weeks, and fun to watch, but I'd rather watch it on my television than participate on it. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I don't understand why are there auditions from other countries who don't speak English at all auditioning for BRITAINS GOT TALENT, but they aren't British!

Confused!

Plus why do the audience cheer when there's clearly NO talent just stupidity- this makes a mockery of the programme!

Clearly the show have to let through ridiculous auditions for it to work and the audience are told when to cheer/clap seriously is a mockery and there's microphones on certain members of the audience - all very fake to me!

BGT is turning out to be very disappointing I really am not worried about missing this if I have other things on!

I'm sure the most intelligent of us will have realised by now that not only is this one of the most garbage shows on British television, it's also the fakest, most manipulative and downright cynical shows to ever grace television in general. Search up 'talent shows exposed' on YouTube and you'll see more evidence than you could ever need that this show along with its counterparts (X Factor, The Voice, America's Got Talent etc) should have been axed years ago. I'm more than happy to accept that not everyone will have the same taste as me, but if you still willingly watch this show then you are just as bad as Simon Cowell and the rest of the inhuman producers who run the show. "But it's just a silly family show" which would be fine if anything about it was genuine. At the end of the day it's a glorified reality tv show, none of it is real and to the people who still don't realise this - wake up. You shouldn't be wasting your time watching this trash. Surely you value your time more than this?

Like most people, I get immense pleasure from seeing a child cry. Oh, how I love to watch the tears roll down their little faces! I also love seeing the mentally ill being publicly humiliated - well, who doesn't? Unfortunately, it has become less and less acceptable to seek out and publicly mock infants and the disabled.

Thank God for Britain's Got Talent! Finally, we are free to laugh at the disadvantaged without being shunned by our peers. I literally cannot think of a better Saturday night's television than watching a quartet of millionaires sat behind a desk sneering at the disillusioned, disadvantaged and disturbed. Each episode allows you to cackle with glee as a stream of human beings' hopes and dreams are destroyed in front of the entire nation - what could be more heart-warming than that?

The judges are what really make the show what it is - after all, who could possibly be a better judge of "talent" than Amanda Holden? Her role in that programme about hairdressers is widely regarded as the greatest character portrayal of all time. Presumably the sheer strength of this performance is why we've not seen her act in anything since then.

Simon Cowell is brilliant. I love the way he sneers at the inept auditionees for "wasting his time" - how dare they? I mean, it's not like he gets paid millions for his appearance on the show! And the contestants certainly aren't pre-screened by producers before they're sent out onto the stage!

The star-power of the judging panel has really been upped this year, however, with the addition of Alesha Dixon. Yes, the greatest female artist of the millennium - I'm sure we all remember her smash-hit single "Knockdown" which reached the dizzying heights of number 45 in the UK charts.

Britain's Got Talent does an amazing job of bringing the Victorian 'freak show' concept into the 21st century, and the culture of the UK is truly richer now that we can take pleasure from the humiliation of strangers from the comfort of our own living rooms!