Bruno Tonioli: Britain’s Got Talent judge admits he’s never watched ITV show as he breaks Golden Buzzer rule

Bruno Tonioli reportedly admitted that he has never watched Britain’s Got Talent before, after breaking the ITV talent show’s rules by pressing the Golden Buzzer twice during auditions.

The former Strictly judge, 67, who lives in London, has replaced David Walliams, 52, who left the show after making disrespectful comments about contestants on the previous series.

Head judge, Simon Cowell, 63, reportedly regrets his decision to employ Bruno as a new judge on BGT, as he has so far made a mess of his duties on the panel.

The Golden Buzzer automatically sends auditionees through to the live finals when pushed, and it can only be used once for each judge. Bruno, however, didn't seem to know this as he pushed the Golden Buzzer twice.

Following the mistake, producers are said to have panicked as they were left with the decision of whether to send the hopeful through, or cancel the second buzzer.

When Bruno explained his actions, he admitted that he had “never seen the show before.”

A source at BGT told The Sun: “It was madness. The buzzer worked but there was no glitter in the cannon above the stage as it had already been used up. A producer raced over to try to tell Bruno he couldn’t do that.

“Then there were discussions with the top execs and Simon [Cowell], who had his head in his hands.”

The source added that after admitting he’d never seen the show, he said he didn’t want to be influenced by the judging styles from previous series.

After Simon Cowell and the head of Fremantle had a heated discussion over what to do, they eventually sent the contestant through.

So far, during auditions, it's been claimed that the former Strictly judge gets so excited that he regularly jumps out of his seat, causing the camera operators to be high-alert, as they want to keep him in frame.

Bruno is reportedly being paid an impressive £850,000 for his new role, which is quite a big step up from his reported salary at Strictly, where he fell within the £200,000 to £249,000 pay bracket.

Prior to filming there was a pay row between the ITV bosses, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden. Bosses initially offered Bruno a seven figure pay deal, and this infuriated Alesha, who is in her 11th year, and Amanda, who is in her 17th.

Bruno’s offer was then lowered over fears of a backlash, so now he’s reportedly getting the same figure, which has allegedly caused a rift between them.

A source told The Express: “They don’t think it’s fair a newcomer could walk into the show and be handed the same deal as them.”

The role was initially offered to Amanda’s close friend, comedian Alan Carr, but he lost out to Bruno at the last minute, who has been friends with Simon Cowell for three decades.

Bruno revealed that David Walliams reached out after being offered the role, saying: “David was the first person that sent me a text and a fantastic bottle of wine. He’s a very good friend.”