{"id":311044,"date":"2026-02-22T06:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/311044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T06:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T06:44:18","slug":"britains-got-talent-2026-what-time-its-on-where-it-was-filmed-and-why-ksi-replaced-bruno-tonioli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/311044\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s Got Talent 2026: What time it’s on, where it was filmed and why KSI replaced Bruno Tonioli"},"content":{"rendered":"

The annual Simon Cowell ITV talent show is returning for its 19th season\"(left<\/p>\n

The judges are ready to find their next winner(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Got Talent 2026 is finally here, but what time is it on, where was it filmed and why did KSI replace Bruno Tonioli on the judging panel.<\/p>\n

With the 20th anniversary of the series approaching, season 19 of Britain\u2019s Got Talent<\/a> will see Amanda Holden reuniting with Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and KSI on the judging panel. Newcastle duo Ant and Dec are once again on presenting duties.<\/p>\n

Click here to prioritise Manchester news in Google from the MEN<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s series was won by magician Harry Moulding<\/a>, who managed to overcome the likes of dance group The Blackouts and dancer Binita Chetry after months of compelling viewing.<\/p>\n

This weekend a new host of potential breakout stars looking to follow in Harry\u2019s footsteps and win the chance to perform at the prestigious Royal Variety Performance and \u00a3250,000.<\/p>\n

The judges’ buzzers are at the ready, Ant and Dec are standing by and your weekend TV fix is sorted, bringing spring along with it, Britain\u2019s Got Talent 2026 has arrived.<\/p>\n

When is Britain\u2019s Got Talent 2026 on?<\/p>\n

Ant McPartlin, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, Simon Cowell, KSI and Declan Donnelly attend the Britain’s Got Talent Series 19 Launch at the Ham Yard Hotel(Image: WireImage)<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Got Talent 2026 gets underway on Saturday (February 21) on ITV1 and on ITVX at 7pm following the latest edition of Graham Norton\u2019s Wheel of Fortune. Running for 85 minutes, the first round of auditions will be followed by Lee Mack\u2019s The 1% Club at 8.25pm.<\/p>\n

Sadly, 2026 marks another year without spin-off Britain\u2019s Got More Talent, which ran from from 2007 to 2019 and was presented by Stephen Mulhern<\/a>. The series brought fans behind-the-scenes and featured acts not seen on the main show.<\/p>\n

Similarly to last year, ITV<\/a> are not going to air the programme on March 14 due to the final of the 2026 Six Nations Championship. It remains to be seen if it also moves day on May 16 due to the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.<\/p>\n

Where were the Britain\u2019s Got Talent 2026 auditions filmed?<\/p>\n

The latest batch of auditions were held last year in the iconic Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Britain\u2019s Got Talent\u2019s auditions have been filmed in the seaside town of Blackpool <\/a>for the past three series.<\/p>\n

While the auditions have previously been held in The Lowry in Salford<\/a> and at the London Palladium in London, Amand Holden, who has appeared on every season of the programme, recently revealed that she loves heading up north for the auditions.<\/p>\n

She told PA: \u201cI think that\u2019s why we like going up north, going up to Blackpool, it\u2019s a completely different type of person. Everyone\u2019s lovely, they\u2019re up for it. They\u2019re noisy. They don\u2019t care, you know, and it feels like they\u2019re just a massive extension of us. They are so important, the energy and everybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in the hotel, we get so looked after. Everybody\u2019s so warm and gorgeous. It really does feel like you\u2019re at home.”<\/p>\n

Amanda continued: \u201cIt\u2019s Britain\u2019s Got Talent\u2019s spiritual home because it is the home of entertainment. You look at Blackpool and there are so many legends that were there, the peers, the theatres, and everything else. So I think what\u2019s great for Blackpool and for us is that we\u2019re bringing a bit of life back to that town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did KSI replace Bruno Tonioli on Britain\u2019s Got Talent?<\/p>\n

YouTuber, boxer and musician KSI <\/a>whose real name is Olajide \u2018JJ\u2019 Olatunji, is making his debut as a full-time judge Saturday night. However, he\u2019s no stranger to how the programme runs.<\/p>\n

Last year saw him initially brought in to fill in for when former Strictly<\/a> Come Dancing judge Bruno was filming Dancing with the Stars in America. KSI jumped in again when Simon took time off following One Direction singer Liam Payne\u2019s passing. He was the judge who gave eventual winner Harry the golden buzzer during the audition process.<\/p>\n

KSI, who also made an appearance during last year\u2019s live semi-finals, was confirmed as a full-time judge after Bruno announced in September that he was stepping away from the series after three seasons, having joined the programme in 2023.<\/p>\n

Bruno, who replaced David Walliams on the judging panel, revealed he is returning to the US to film the next season of Dancing with the Stars. He said in a statement at the time: \u201cAfter three incredible series, I\u2019ve sadly had to walk away from a job which has opened my eyes to so much incredible talent and step down as a judge on BGT.<\/p>\n

“And whilst I look forward to filming a new series of Dancing with the Stars in the US, I will miss the chaos and joy that BGT brings, as well as all the wonderful people I\u2019ve had the privilege of working with. They truly are a brilliant team who make brilliant television, and I know KSI will be a fantastic judge too, as he\u2019s already proven this year.”<\/p>\n

Teasing what to expect from the series, KSI noted: \u201cI\u2019m so grateful and happy to be a part of the Britain’s Got Talent team for another season. I had such a good time last year and I can\u2019t wait to see some more top talent. I\u2019m full of energy, ready to go and can\u2019t wait to make this the most entertaining BGT season ever! Let\u2019s do this.”<\/p>\n

Additionally, Stacey Solomon<\/a> will also be making an appearance on the panel to fill in for Simon who missed the first day of filming. Stacey is no stranger to talent shows after finishing in third place during The X Factor’s 2009 series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual Simon Cowell ITV talent show is returning for its 19th season The judges are ready to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[62294,93,61,60,8642,282],"class_list":["post-311044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-britains-got-talent","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-itv","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}