Britain’s Got Talent’s replacement for Simon Cowell ‘confirmed’ after judge misses auditions

Britain’s Got Talent is reportedly replacing Simon Cowell for the ITV auditions of the show, after the music executive was said to have been taken ill yesterday.

Applications for series 19 of the ITV talent show opened at the start of this year, with another mass appeal for performers to come forward to compete for a spot in the Royal Variety Show.

The BGT 2025 auditions were set to kick off on Thursday at the Hippodrome theatre in Birmingham.

However, it was reported that head judge and music executive Cowell, 65, fell ill, resulting in the day’s auditions being postponed.

Stacey Solomon is now said to be the TV personality stepping into Cowell’s spot on the judging panel, as he was reportedly still not well enough for today’s auditions.

An insider told The Sun: ‘If she hadn’t stepped in then organisers were facing doing the show with three judges OR potentially cancelling the Birmingham auditions and they really did not want to do that.

‘So many people were disappointed when yesterday’s auditions were cancelled they didn’t want that to happen again, so Stacey was a great sport and stepped in.

‘BGT are so grateful to her for agreeing at such short notice and it adds an extra bit of excitement to proceedings too.’

It might feel like a full-circle moment for the 35-year-old, as she first rose to fame when she competed on The X Factor, another one of Cowell’s competition shows, in the 2009 series.

A BGT spokesperson told Metro yesterday: ‘Due to unforeseen circumstances, today’s filming of Britain’s Got Talent has been postponed.’

The judging panel is already set to look a bit different this year, with YouTuber KSI stepping into Bruno Tonioli’s spot.

Tonioli confirmed earlier this month that he would be stepping back from the upcoming series due to scheduling conflicts with Dancing with the Stars in the US.

Some things never change though and Ant and Dec will once again be waiting in the wings as hosts. KSI will be joined on the panel by the regular show judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon, as well as Cowell once he returns.

Metro contacted BGT and Stacey Solomon’s representatives for comment.

Britain’s Got Talent series 19 is set to air on ITV1 and ITVX in 2026.