Britain’s Got Talent struggled to fill the venue for recording sessions at the London Palladium, according to reports.
Audience members at a session this month were ‘begged’ by warm-up comedian Stuart Holdham not to leave the theatre – which has a seating capacity of 2,286.
Those there for the recording of the afternoon session were also offered ‘free evening tickets’ to bolster the crowd.
Struggles: Britain’s Got Talent auditions have ‘struggled to bring in an audience with fans begged not to leave recordings’ (pictured L-R judges David Walliams, Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon)
‘The recording sessions are quite long, and before the session ended, groups of audience members suddenly started leaving the theatre,’ a source told The Sun.
‘It was enough that Stuart intervened, saying: “Please stay. The show does not work without you.”
‘Then at the end of the sitting, staff were handing out free evening tickets to anyone who wanted them outside the rear entrance to the Palladium.’
Show bosses are also said to have upgraded the usual public ballot tickets to ‘guaranteed entry.’
A spokesperson for BGT said: ‘The priority for this year’s auditions was to keep people safe and strict protocols were in place in order to do that.
‘We were delighted to be back and to able to film in front of an audience.’
‘On the odd occasion when we had some spare seats the audience were offered the opportunity to stay on and watch the evening session if they wished,’ a source told MailOnline.
Plenty of room: Audience members at a session this month were ‘begged’ by warm-up comedian Stuart Holdham not to leave the theatre – which has a seating capacity of 2,286
Although a date for the show return has yet to be confirmed, previous years have usually been aired around Spring time.
Production for the show has been underway this week after last year’s series of BGT was cancelled due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.
It is claimed David got a ‘ticking off’ amid this seasons filming after acting ‘like a schoolboy’ within the same week that music mogul Simon berated the comic for a cheeky comment in reference to a contestant.
A TV insider told The Sun: ‘Because BGT has been off our screens for some time, David is like a schoolboy in his first week back in class after the summer holidays.
‘He can’t resist showing off in front of the crowd, which people expect from the funnyman. But sometimes he can take things too far, and that’s just what’s happened this week.
‘Simon obviously loves his outrageous behaviour and the fact they take the mickey out of one another, but even he seemed unimpressed with his latest joke.’
They added that David was spoken to about his humour after the first day of auditions but he appears to have taken it as a ‘challenge’ to be even naughtier.
Crowd control: Warm-up comedian Stuart reportedly told audience members ‘please stay. The show does not work without you’, as fans began to leave their seats
