As fans complain about a lack of British acts on Britain’s Got Talent, judge Amanda Holden addressed the criticism with a brief and to-the-point response during Sunday’s final.

Amanda Holden takes a firm stance on the criticism targeting Britain’s Got Talent as fans continue to slam the show.

Disgruntled ITV viewers have continually complained about a lack of British performers in the competition as international acts from Japan, South Africa and South Korea making it to this Sunday’s (June 2, 2024) final.

The criticism led to some viewers threatening to contact Ofcom as they accused the popular program of a possible violation of the Trade Descriptions Act.

However, Amanda Holden broke her silence and responded to the criticism as she reacted in awe at Ghanaian dancing duo Abigail and Afronitaaa, after the pair’s energetic performance to a musical mash-up.

“I am in awe of both of you, thank you so much for coming all this way. This is a global show and we welcome everyone on it”, she said, as she congratulated the mother-daughter pair for their final performance.

Amanda responded to Britain’s Got Talent criticism by praising Ghanaian mother-daughter duo Abigail and Afronitaaa

As mentioned, fans of the program have frequently complained about the presence of international acts, despite recognising their talent. The most recent criticism took place on social media when Innocent Masuku and Sslaubi Performance Troupe went straight through to the final on Monday, May 29.

The two acts left fans divided as they pointed out that the South African singer and Korean martial arts group were not British. Numerous viewers quickly swarmed to X, otherwise known as Twitter, to share their frustrations. “Don’t mind if the contestants aren’t Brits if they live here but by all accounts, tonight’s winners flew into the UK just for this competition. If correct it’s just wrong”, one of them wrote.

“So two acts go through on BGT who aren’t British. No hesitation from the judges. Those dogs deserved to go through more, they were amazing”, another echoed. But more TV watchers, despite praising his “amazing” performance, were scandalised to see an established singer like Innocent bask in the Britain’s Got Talent spotlight.

One lamented: “Talent shows shouldn’t include professionals, Innocent is an incredible opera singer but shouldn’t be on the show, whose in tomorrow’s semi Elton John tickling the ivories.” Another agreed: “Stop flying these already established acts in. Both these 2 are already famous in there countries. The trickster lady lost previously and has trained again and come back and not been headhunted it’s a joke now.”

Singer Sydnie Christmas, who was awarded a Golden Buzzer for her rendition of Annie’s “Tomorrow”, was immediately slammed by viewers online as they unearthed her past career on the West End. During her audition, Sydnie had underlined she’d encountered great difficulty in trying to make it as a singer in showbiz.

Some fans were also irked by the presence of contestants who had already tried their luck in the talent show or in its French and American spin-offs.