Amanda Holden admits she ‘hated’ replacing Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent

While you’d expect there to be an endless queue of people wanting to replace multi-millionaire Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent, Amanda Holden is apparently not one of them.

The 55-year-old has opened up about sitting in boss Cowell’s chair for two days while filming BGT’s upcoming series – and she’s not holding back.

The TV presenter and actor said that she “hated” temporarily taking over from Cowell, who missed filming after falling down the stairs and hitting his head.

“I’ve been on the show the longest, so I understand why I probably need to sit in that seat, but when I was there, I felt very outcast on the end,” she told The Mirror.

She added that she “never” wants to take his seat again and had to keep “leaning to be a part of the conversation”.

“It’s OK if your team are sitting to the left of you – Simon’s got dozens of staff and family watching from the side and communicating with him,” she added.

“Mine all decided to eat my snacks and sit in the dressing room paying no attention to the show or me whatsoever!”

While Cowell was off, Holden was joined on the judging panel by co-star Alesha Dixon, new judge KSI and guest Stacey Solomon – one of the more successful products of the Cowell industrial complex thanks to her stint on The X Factor.

The Stacey & Joe star rose to fame on the now-canned singing competition in 2009, making it to the final before losing out to winner Joe McElderry and runner-up Olly Murs.

Holden said that Solomon is “warm” and “super funny” on the show, having stayed “down to earth” despite fronting various homemaker hits for the BBC with Sort Your Life Out and Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas.

Alongside Cowell, Holden has been one of BGT’s longest-running judges – having stuck with the show since it debuted in 2007. She was originally joined by Piers Morgan on the panel, before he was replaced by Michael McIntyre and David Hasselhoff the following year.

In 2012, Cowell and Holden were joined by Alesha Dixon and David Walliams, with the latter quietly leaving the show after being heard making vulgar comments about contestants in audio leaked from set.

Bruno Tonioli took over in 2023, but was replaced permanently by former guest judge KSI for the upcoming series due to scheduling conflicts.

Outside of BGT, Holden keeps herself busy – teaming up with Celebrity Traitors winner Alan Carr to host various reality travel shows for the BBC.

Back in January, the noisy pair made headlines after claiming to have turned down the chance to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman on Strictly Come Dancing.

While Carr said that they had “said no ages ago” to the BBC on Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, The Rest is Entertainment’s Richard Osman pooh-poohed the idea as “nonsense”.

“Of course, they didn't [turn it down]. It was never offered to them,” he said. “I would be fairly confident in saying that it has not yet been offered to anybody. I mean, it will be in the next month or so.”

Britain’s Got Talent is set to return with a new series later this month, kicking off on Saturday 21 February.