David Walliams’ future on Britain’s Got Talent ‘up in the air’ after apology for offensive remarks
David Walliams’ future on Britain’s Got Talent is “very much up in the air” following the judge’s apology for inappropriate remarks about contestants.
A spokesperson for the ITV show said the comedian and actor’s role in next year’s series was not guaranteed, amid reports he won’t be part of the judging panel for the first time in more than a decade.
The Sun newspaper says Walliams, who joined in 2012, will be leaving.
It comes after the 51-year-old apologised for “disrespectful comments” he made during breaks in filming in 2020.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Got Talent told PA news agency: “The judging panel for Britain’s Got Talent 2023 will be announced in due course.
“It’s still very much up in the air at the moment on whether David is going to take part in next year’s show.
“No decision, though, has been made as yet.”
What is Walliams alleged to have said?
The remarks are understood to have been derogatory and sexually explicit, referring to one contestant as a “c***” and saying of another: “She thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t.”
First reported by The Guardian, the comments were part of a leaked transcript seen by the newspaper, taken from a recorded show at the London Palladium in January 2020.
They are understood to have been picked up by microphones on the judges’ desk at the centre of the auditorium.
In a statement, Walliams said: “These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry.”
Thames TV, the production company behind Britain’s Got Talent, said in a statement that the language used was “inappropriate” and that those involved had been “reminded of their responsibilities”.
ITV said it did not condone the language and had “spoken to the producers” about the incident.
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David Walliams with his fellow Britain’s Got Talent judges, and presenters Ant and Dec
Walliams has been on the panel with Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, and he has been named best judge at the National Television Awards three times during his stint.
But PA news agency understands nobody is currently contracted for the 2023 series, with no auditions in front of a judging panel expected for another two months.
Entertainment
Peter Andre explains how Mysterious Girl music video came about – and whether he misses his 90s hairstyle
Peter Andre says the famous shirtless dancing in a lagoon for his hit 90s single Mysterious Girl was all his own idea.
Speaking about the video for the global hit, the 51-year-old told Sky News: “We were climbing up a waterfall and I said, ‘Guys, this looks like a great location,’ because I was really part of developing this whole image.
“So, I climbed up in my jeans looking at this place, and I went, ‘Start filming here, this looks like great lighting’.”
Peter Andre in a swimming pool in 1996. Pic: Rex Features
The 1995 reggae / dancehall track featuring rapper Bubbler Ranx was a top 10 hit around the world and reached number two in the UK on its re-release the following year.
In the music video, which was filmed in Thailand, a topless Andre dances and sings while inexplicably wearing a pair of jeans and a belt in a lagoon, in front of a waterfall and on a beach.
Andre and his wife Emily MacDonagh. Pic: PA
Now a father of five, Andre says his children have seen the video and are “proud,” adding “but there are also a few eyerolls… to everything [in the video] really”.
Andre married doctor Emily MacDonagh in 2015 and welcomed their third child in April. He has four other children, seven-year-old son, Theo, and daughter, Amelia, 10, whom he shares with MacDonagh, and 18-year-old son Junior and daughter Princess, 16 – whom he shares with his ex-wife, Katie Price.
As for his slicked-back curtain hairstyle – which was very much en vogue at the time – Andre says he misses it: “I wish I carried it on.”
Peter Andre in 1995. Pic: Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture-alliance/dpa/AP
‘A decline of music videos since the 1980s’
Discussing nostalgia and looking back at changes in the music industry, Andre said times have definitely changed. “I think the 80s were when videos were the most important and then it was a slight sort of decline after that. I think 90s was popular, but as it’s gone on, videos have been less effective.”
He added: “If you look at the 80s, specifically, superstars were superstars.
“If Madonna was on the radio, you knew it was Madonna. If Michael Jackson came on the radio, you knew it was Michael Jackson.
“Now there are great songs out there, but you don’t know who’s who unless you’re in with what’s going on on social media. So, it’s a different time.”
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Andre was married to Katie Price until 2009. Pic: Reuters
He says the time when “people would wait to go to the store and buy a record and it would be such a huge moment” is long gone.
He admits when recently showing his kids a VHS tape – the way everyone recorded TV and film in the 70s and 80s – they were utterly baffled, asking him “What is that?”
As for his own success in the industry, Andre says he thinks it’s largely due to working with one of the world’s biggest female music stars.
“I can only be grateful for what happened to me because my first big gig was touring with Madonna in Australia in 1980,” he said.
“I was the opening act, the only act actually for the Girly Tour in Australia… And then I came to England as an unknown after selling out arenas in Australia and it was just crazy.”
Billie Eilish has announced a new tour and will be coming to the UK next summer.
The 22-year year old‘s show is named after her latest album – Hit Me Hard And Soft – and will kick off in North America in September.
It will then head to Australia in February 2025, before travelling across Europe and arriving in the UK on 7 July when she will perform for two nights in Glasgow, at OVO Hydro.
Eilish will then play six nights at the O2 in London, and four nights at the new Co-Op Live arena in Manchester – a venue that has been beset with problems as it prepares to open to the public.
The singer will then play two gigs in Dublin, Ireland, at the 3Arena.
A vocal environmentalist, fans are being encouraged to take “sustainable transport” during the tour, which will also feature “eco-villages” and encourage plant-based food options.
The tour will partner with the plant-based food organisation Support + Feed – an initiative founded by Eilish’s mother Maggie Baird – and environmental non-profit organisation REVERB.
The concerts will also aim to reduce “greenhouse gas pollution, decreasing single-use plastic waste, supporting climate action”, the promoters Live Nation said.
Eilish’s third studio album comes out on 17 May, a month after Taylor Swift‘s much lauded album The Tortured Poets Department.
Like Swift, Eilish is encouraging fans to listen to the collection as a whole, saying on her website that the new body of work should be listened to chronologically as it “hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically, while bending genres and defying trends along the way”.
She’s not released any singles in advance, encouraging fans to listen “in one go”.
The album cover features Eilish on her back under dark water with a white door open above her.
Eilish and Finneas accept their second Oscar. Pic: AP /Chris Pizzello
Eilish’s last album was 2021’s Happier Than Ever, and her debut record When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was released in 2019.
The youngest person ever to have won two Oscars, she took home the award for best original song Oscar gong for Barbie’s What Was I Made For? in March, and won the same prize for James Bond’s No Time To Die in 2022.
Tickets for Hit Me Hard And Soft go on general sale on Friday.
Billie Eilish’s UK tour dates:
Mon 7 July, 2025 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Tue 8 July, 2025 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Thu 10 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Fri 11 July, 2025 -London, UK – The O2
Sun 13 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Mon 14 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Wed 16 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Thu 17 July, 2025 – London, UK – The O2
Sat 19 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Sun 20 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Tue 22 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Wed 23 July, 2025 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Entertainment
Googlebox star George Gilbey’s mum reveals his last words to her before he fell to his death
The mother of Gogglebox star George Gilbey has revealed his last words to her were “I love you”.
Gilbey died after falling through a plastic skylight while fixing a warehouse roof in Essex in March.
The 40-year-old appeared alongside his mum, Linda McGarry, and stepdad on the hit Channel 4 show.
The family first appeared on the second series of Gogglebox in 2013 but were dropped the following year when Gilbey signed up for the 14th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2014, reaching the final.
Mrs McGarry said she spoke to him on the phone hours before his death.
Gilbey appeared alongside his mum Linda and stepdad Pete on Gogglebox. Pic: PA
She told The Sun: “He phoned me at 9.30 in the morning and said he was working – and asked me for his ‘breakfast money’.
“I put £30 in his account so he could get food, and he seemed fine.
“He had a drink the night before, and liked a bottle of white wine or two, but was happy that he was working. He ended the phone call by saying, ‘I love you’ like he usually did. I treasure those words.”
She added: “It was an honour for him to have been my son. We had a blast for 40 years.”
Mrs McGarry said her son had struggled with the death of his dad, stepfather and her own Parkinson’s diagnosis.
At the time of his death, he was working to save money to move closer to his seven-year-old daughter, Amelie, in southwest London.
“He wanted to be with Amelie, who he adored,” she told The Sun.
“They were on the third day of a job that was going to last a month, and he was going to get money together from that.
“When they were together, George and Amelie were always laughing. She is going to miss him terribly, like we all will.”
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Gilbey suffered traumatic injuries to his head and torso and died at the scene in Shoeburyness.
An inquest was opened last week but suspended after a request from police pending a criminal investigation.
A man in his 40s from the Witham area of Essex was previously arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter
He was later released under investigation.
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