Britain’s Got Talent under pressure to find acts for new series as they send out talent scouts across the UK after applications dry up
Bosses at the show have admitted that the applications for the show have dried up, leading them to resort to find their own people
BRITAIN'S Got Talent bosses have been forced to go head-hunting for talent after the number of people applying for the show dropped.
The team behind the Simon Cowell-fronted talent show have seen a stark drop in interest of potential performers since the programme began back in 2006 - to the point that they now have to actively scout people out to participate.
Charlie Irwin, who produces the series, told the Daily Star: “We have to make the show more accessible now. We have to go to people to encourage them to audition. A lot of the time people won’t come to us anymore.
"We need to go everywhere in the UK to encourage people to audition."
Executive Clair Breen blames in part the expansion of the '...Got Talent' show across the globe for making it harder for them, as their regional version of the show is easier to get to than heading to England to audition.
She added: "It gets 100% harder each year. The biggest brief is ‘Find something that we have not seen before’ or ‘Get something we have seen and we can put a twist on it’.
“It is really tough as there are tons of talent shows. It is not easily done.”
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As a result, the show has hired teams of people and given each specific genres to be on the lookout for - and have had to scour the internet, contact dance and music schools and speak to agents about people on their books they think might be eligible.
The show came under fire at several points last year after it was discovered some of the final ten acts had already performed in West End shows, had a large following online or had previously performed on other TV talent shows.
Moldovan stuntman Alex Magala, who was seen swallowing swords and performing death-defying stunts on BGT last year, was discovered to have already WON Russia's Got Talent.
Impressionist Craig Ball also came under fire for having become a viral hit for his multi-voiced interpretation of Miley Cyrus track Wrecking Ball years before he appeared on the show.
Singer Rachael Wooding, who was beaten in the semi-finals, had previously performed on the West End as Scaramouche in the Queen musical We Will Rock You, and was revealed to be already signed to the same talent agent as Matt Willis.
The winner of BGT, now heading into its eleventh series, will win £250,000 and appear in front of The Queen at the Royal Variety Performance.
In this year's show, the panel of judges will remain the same with Simon Cowell alongside David Walliams, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon.
Auditions for this year's series will begin in Blackpool on Wednesday.
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