Ant and Dec nearly quit Britain's Got Talent over Simon Cowell's behaviour on set
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly nearly walked away from Britain's Got Talent after a clash with Simon Cowell, as it seems it's not just the contestants who have had issues with the notoriously tough judge.
The popular show made its 17th season comeback in April, introducing a fresh batch of hopefuls all vying for the £250,000 prize and a coveted spot in the Royal Variety Performance. But all the on-screen drama doesn't stop when the cameras do.
In fact, Ant and Dec, who have been the show's hosts since 2007, almost hung up their microphones. The Geordie besties contemplated calling it a day due to their frustration with Cowell's chronic lateness.
The music mogul, who contributed to Dec's autobiography Once Upon A Tyne, confessed: "They used to have a real issue with me being late and it used to drive them nuts." As reported by The Sun back in 2020, Ant and Dec grew tired of Cowell's lack of punctuality and having their scenes cut from the final show.
"The audition days had been very long, which in itself we don't mind, but after filming interviews and interacting with every single act, as well as making jokes, giving reactions and everything else we always do, we found that when the show went out on TV, we hardly seemed to feature in it at all," Ant revealed, reports the Mirror.
"We began to feel that we were wasting our time doing the auditions because all the footage of the work we were doing was ending up on the cutting-room floor."
The star said they felt 'side-lined' on the show and had a meeting with bosses at ITV to stress that they were 'strongly considering' leaving the show. After making their feelings known, Simon whisked Ant and Dec off to LA for a heart-to-heart over dinner at a swanky West Hollywood eatery.
"It's worth mentioning that Simon was only one minute late for that meeting, which for him is the equivalent of being three days early," Dec quipped. "The three of us sat down and me and Ant went either side of him, so we could do the full pincer movement... We told him everything - that we weren't being used, that we could be doing other stuff, that maybe someone else should take over."
Simon, not wanting to lose his star duo, was quick to assure them he'd turn things around. "To be fair to him, he was as good as his word, things did change," Dec revealed, hinting at a happy resolution.
