Simon Cowell, 65, embroiled in ITV BGT ‘staged’ row as fans spot glaring error in magician act: ‘How did he know!’
Simon Cowell has found himself at the centre of a debate among Britain’s Got Talent viewers who are convinced one magic act from Saturday’s episode was “staged”.
During the episode, Cowell joined his fellow judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli to see if any hopeful acts had what it took to make it to the next stage of the competition.
However, a little over halfway through the show, Ant and Dec welcomed the judges back for the start of a new day of auditions from Blackpool – and Cowell was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello, Blackpool!” McPartlin shouted to the crowd before Donnelly weighed in: “Are you ready to meet our judges?”
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The double act then introduced Dixon and Holden before addressing the fact that Cowell was absent.
“One, two, three, and we’ve got one spare chair,” McPartlin said. “Unfortunately, Simon can’t be with us this evening, so we’ve got a very special guest judge… KSI!”
YouTuber KSI then burst onto the stage before taking to his seat to offer his verdict on the day’s auditionees – including magician Harry Moulding.
Blackpool lad Moulding, 24, kicked off his routine by getting the judges involved, asking Tonioli to randomly pick one of the town’s local hotspots hidden behind numbered pieces of paper.
Tonioli randomly chose a rollercoaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach before Moulding moved on to the other three judges with more conundrums.
The budding magician has a wide range of words and numbers on several sheets of paper and asked KSI to randomly choose a foodstuff from the options written down.
Dixon was tasked with picking a random time of the day while Holden had to choose a number.
After everyone had settled on their answers, Moulding played a video he’d recorded the previous day on the big screen hoisted above him.
In the video, Moulding boarded the rollercoaster supposedly randomly chosen by Tonioli and proceeded to reel off the options chosen by each of the judges – even going as far as to have the answers written on his person.
He then de-boarded the rollercoaster, was handed a mint choc-chip ice cream (KSI’s choice), and then pointed to a clock that had the same time Dixon had picked.
With the judging panel and audience gobsmacked, Moulding still wasn’t done as he had the number and suit of a card chosen randomly by KSI shone onto the Blackpool Tower in a final act of magic.
However, while Holden branded it “epic” and KSI’s jaw hit the floor, viewers were quick to question how and why Moulding would have known Cowell would’ve been replaced by KSI for his audition.
The questionable topic soon set social media alight, with X users claiming that Moulding using KSI’s name in the pre-recorded video proved the trick wasn’t what it seemed.
“How did he know KSI was a judge and Simon wasn’t going to be there that day? #BGT,” one fan questioned before a second added: “No cause why did he know KSI was there and not Simon… #bgt.”
“Ok #bgt @BritainsGotTal how did this magician know it was ksi and not Simon as a judge when he shot the rollercoaster the day before #BritainsGotTalent,” another queried before a fourth weighed in: “Hold up. How did he know KSI was a guest judge & Simon wasn’t there…. #bgt #BritainsGotTalent.”
A fifth concurred: “You can tell that magican on #bgt is in with the judges. How did he know in his video Simon wasn’t there. Means he’s told the judges what to say.”
How did he know KSI was a judge and Simon wasn’t going to be there that day? 🤔 #BGT
— Greggles (@greglee91) March 22, 2025
And a sixth raged: “So you’re telling me this ‘magician’ somehow knew KSI would be there in place of Simon?
“The ‘magic’ was those judges knowing what to ‘choose’ beforehand. There’s no way this was actually real…right? #britainsgottalent #bgt,” (sic)
However, several other fans rushed to the show, Cowell and Moulding’s defence, with many expressing their astonishment at the 24-year-old’s tricks.
Moulding inevitably was given four yes votes from the judges, although he missed out on a golden buzzer.