Britain’s Got Talent is rumoured to be following rival Strictly Come Dancing to Blackpool for the ITV’s next series with auditions reportedly taking place in the seaside town

Britain’s Got Talent is reportedly making a major change ahead of its 2025 series which will see the ITV show follow in the footsteps of its rival Strictly Come Dancing.

The talent competition is rumoured to be filming auditions for the next series in Blackpool – where Strictly Come Dancing takes its celebrity line-up for a special live show. According to The Sun, Britain’s Got Talent will be filming a large chunk of its auditions in the seaside British town.

The publication added that judges Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell and Bruno Tonioli may even film in the Tower Ballroom, which is a staple of every Strictly Come Dancing series. An insider said: “Strictly’s annual jaunt to Blackpool is one of the show’s ‘special moments’ and is widely seen as a milestone for the contestants.

Britain’s Got talent is reportedly heading to Blackpool in 2025 (Image: itv)

Strictly Come Dancing, hosted by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, has regularly held a show at Blackpool Tower (Image: Getty Images)

“But now that trip will be replicated by its ITV rival, there’s little doubt they’re trying to encroach on their territory. It’s yet another move to take on the dominance of Strictly on Saturday night telly.” ITV has declined to comment.

Strictly Come Dancing first visited Blackpool Tower in its first series, with the dancing landmark becoming a major stage in the competition from the 2009 series onwards. For Britain’s Got Talent, auditions have been typically filmed in London and Manchester in the past, although contestants have also taken to the audition stage in Cardiff, Glasgow and Birmingham among other major cities in previous years.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Britain’s Got Talent has taken on some of Strictly’s successes, with the show hiring judges Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli, who both got their start on the Strictly judging panel. Bruno – who was a judge on his second series of BGT last year – appeared to face ‘boos’ from the live audience during the Britain’s Got Talent final in June, leaving fans at home confused.

Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon rose to fame as judges on Strictly Come Dancing before joining Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell on BGT (Image: Getty Images)
However, those in the audience were actually shouting ‘Bruno’ – which sounded like booing to viewers at home.

Strictly Come Dancing announced this week the major news that professional Aljaz Skorjanec would be returning to the Strictly cast despite leaving the show in 2022. The One Show’s Alex Jones and Lauren Laverne gave the major update during Monday’s show, with Alex saying: “We can tell you that there is a Strictly legend and former champion who will be coming back to the ballroom next series and they are with us now. I can exclusively reveal that it is the one and only Aljaz.”