Britain’s Got Talent viewers blast controversial act that ‘couldn’t have come at a worse time’

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Series 20 of Britain’s Got Talent returned to screens this weekend with the opening episode culminating on a show-stopping act which had fans divided.

The ITV talent show kicked off on Saturday night with Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon joined by YouTuber and boxer KSI as their new full-time judge.

This follows the permanent departure of Bruno Tonioli, who previously announced that he would be vacating his seat after only two years on the panel.

As Ant and Dec once again resumed hosting duties, the judges settled in for the first night of auditions at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Inan unusual change to the show’s format, the judges and audience were summoned outside to watch a performance by a group called Celestial.

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Simon, Amanda, Alesha and KSI settled in (winter jackets and all), where Celestial unveiled a high-octane drone show set against the Blackpool night sky.

The Britain’s Got Talent judges gathered outside to watch an unusual audition (Picture: ITV)

800 drones formed the BGT logo in the sky (Picture: ITV)

As the audiences and judges watched, a swarm of 800 drones formed the BGT logo, set to the strain of the Beatles’ All You Need Is Love.

A narrator intoned: ‘Great Britain. From Shakespeare’s pen to Beatles’ song. To votes and voices brave and strong. A tiny isle with global weight. For all these things, Britain is great.’

Following a short countdown, the drones then displayed a series of images all related to the best of Blighty, including James Bond and Freddie Mercury.

And, as Variations On An Original Theme Op.36 (otherwise known as the Enigma Variations) began to play, the show took an even more patriotic turn, spearheaded by a set of Spitfires taking to the sky.

Freddie Mercury was among the images conjured up in drone form (Picture: ITV)

A speech from King Charles then played, intoning: ‘Wherever you may live in the United Kingdom, I shall endeavour to serve you with loyalty, respect and love.’

As a beefeater changed into Big Ben, the King’s speech continued: ‘Our nation, and the wider family of realms of whose talents, traditions and achievements I am so inexpressably proud, have prospered and flourished, which makes us great as nations.’

Big Bell then tolled, and the drones changed into an image of the Blackpool Tower, with the Union Jack in the background.

‘Britain is Great,’ read the final message, emblazoned onto the night sky.

Judge Amanda Holden was particularly wowed by the performance (Picture: ITV)

It was an undeniably impressive technological feat, and one which had Amanda tearing up.

‘Oh I do feel very emotional. Because of the music, the sentiment,’ said Amanda.

‘It was the most beautiful feeling,’ added Alesha. ‘To the point where you forget its drones and you’re thinking about how proud you are to be from our country. Our country is amazing because of people like you.’

The drone show had Alesha Dixon feeling proud to be a Brit (Picture: ITV)

However, not everyone was so impressed, with social media user BaldyScouser commenting on X: ‘A drone act is no different to using AI to create ‘art’. It’s a no from me.’

Describing it as ‘nothing special,’ Katie_Murphy775 agreed, claiming that ‘we see a drone show every year.’

Branding it a form of ‘cheating,’ Ash199406 pointed out that ‘these drones are computer operated,’ while demelcy asked: ‘drone lights is a talent?’

Coming at the performance from a different perspective, JB20514059 suggested that an act with the King’s voiceover ‘could not have come at a worse time’ – in reference to the recent arrest of his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

It was a sentiment many agreed with, including DebbsS13, who suggested that the show ‘should have been left on the cutting room floor never to be seen ever.’

Simon Cowell described how the show felt ‘like looking up into heaven’ (Picture: ITV)

Where do you stand on Celestial’s drone show?Comment Now

Still, there were many who defended Celestial’s light show, with Erasmo2058 describing it as ‘good content.’

SocialMediaJon1 went so far as to call it ‘the best thing to happen to BGT since Susan Boyle,’ while JuFitJuJu added: ‘The country needs celestial and their drones right now.’

Agreed Yellowsforlife: ‘I’m absolutely transfixed by these drones shows, all for these kind of displays in the future.’

Celestial have become early frontrunners to win the show (Picture: ITV)

It may have been a divisive performance, but Celestial face a potentially even bigger problem after successfully making it through the audition process.

Namely, how are they going to top what was already the biggest drone show in the UK?

‘It doesn’t get much bigger than what you just did tonight,’ pointed out Alesha during her judging.

‘If you do that again, then you have a really good change of winning,’ agreed Simon, after pointing out how ‘patriotic’ the act had made him feel.

Will lightning – or the drones – strike twice for Celestial?

Britain’s Got Talent returns on Saturday at 7pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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