With the launch of Britain’s Got Talent just around the corner, we caught up with Stephen Mulhern who’ll be presenting the ITV2 show Britain’s Got More Talent.

According to Stephen, the ITV2 show will be a behind the scenes look at the contestants and judges. Britain’s Got More Talent will have the usual mix of interviews and outlandish features you’ve come to expect from ITV aftershows. Apparently there’s going to be a section called Tony’s Top Talent Tips featuring Simon Cowell’s bodyguard and a Hidden Talents Of The Famous slot, which I can’t wait to see!

Britain’s Got Talent Auditions

We talked a little about the auditions for BGT and apparently there were four main rounds of open auditions in Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham and London. Unlike other auditions we’ve seen, not only did the contestants have to audition to the judges, but there was an audience of over 1,000 at each venue.

Worse still, the unpopular acts didn’t just have to face the scathing comments of Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan, but the audience was very vocal too. Stephen told us, “Some acts would go on stage and if they weren’t good, the audience would chant ‘Off, off, off!’”

On the subject of the show, Stephen believes BGT will “breathe new life into the reality TV format” with a wider range of talent being showcased. It’s very likely that Britain’s Got Talent will bridge the gap between reality TV and light entertainment extremely well.

The Prize

I’ve been wondering what the winner of Britain’s Got Talent would get: according to Stephen, the winner of the show will get to perform in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Show and also win £100,000.

The Judges

As you know, the judges on the show are Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden. Stephen says that Piers comes across as very strict, and that he can be “good, but firm with contestants, he doesn’t give out flippant comments”. On the other hand, apparently he talks constantly about having been a judge on America’s Got Talent.

Don’t expect any surprises from Simon on the show – cutting honesty will be the order of the day. However, Stephen told us that to get to the auditions, Simon would fly over from America in his own jet then head back to the States where he was filming American Idol at the same time!

Amanda Holden apparently started out trying to be the ‘even-handed’ judge, but as any reality TV veteran will tell you, that phase doesn’t last long when you’ve met your 100th deranged, untalented auditionee. Expect nastiness!

Magician-phobia

Apparently the judges had a peculiar phobia about magicians during the auditions. Stephen is an accomplished magician and took exception to this, so he decided to play a trick on the judges.

He asked Amanda to think of a card from a pack and to just keep thinking about it. A few moments later, Piers’ mobile signalled he had a new text message. As he read the details of the card from his phone, Amanda shrieked. The double-whammy was when Piers couldn’t work out how Stephen had got his mobile number in the first place!

Anyway, you can catch the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent on ITV on Saturday 9th June.