‘I like raw talent’

What are you most excited about?

The one thing that always excites me about doing the show here is the fact that we have discovered stars from it in the past. And there’s always that feeling when you’re on the panel that you’re going to find a new star. I don’t know who they’re going to be, where they’re going to come from, but that is what excites me the most.

What did you miss most about the show while you were away?

You miss British contestants. I have always thought and felt that for whatever reasons, the best people have come from Britain. You can take people like Leona Lewis or One Direction or Olly Murs, JLS, Ella Henderson or Cher Lloyd. They have all been discovered on the show and have made big careers. So we’re lucky the show does attract people who do want to be big recording artists, rather than wanting to win a singing competition — there is a difference.

What’s going to be different about it this year?

The show is going to look different in terms of the line up. I’ve done the small room auditions already. And then we’re going back to arenas, which is the real test. I’ve already seen five or six people who have got massive potential. Some of these people, when you put them in front of huge crowds, fall apart. This year there are a lot of hurdles to overcome. You’ve got to go from the small room to the arena to the six chair challenge, which I think is a great addition. After that the contestants have to visit the house of the judge, before they make it on the live shows. So anyone who gets to the live shows have earned their spot.

This year you’re back in the audition room. What do you prefer—the room or the arenas?

I found the first day a nightmare going back to the small room, because you’re so close to the contestant — only eight feet away. I had a real problem trying to control my laughter. I think it’s really intimidating, for the contestant and for us. But the good thing about the small room is that you definitely get to know more about the contestants because they’re not playing to a crowd and you get to learn more about their personality. It helps in judging the participant.

What turns you off during an audition?

I think it’s normally a boy band that’s been put together by a manager, and told what to wear, what to say. They all come running in and everything they say is scripted. They pretend to laugh at each other’s jokes; I hate that. I’d rather find something much more raw—like we had with One Direction. We had five talented guys and we never once said, ‘wear this’, ‘say this’, ‘do this’— they shared a beautiful relationship.

The age limit has been lowered to 14 this year. Do you think that someone this young can cope with the pressure of being on the show?

On Britain’s Got Talent, we’ve had no age limits; we’ve had really young people do well on the show. You have to make a judgement call before you put teenagers in front of us about whether they can cope with the stress or not. When they come to see us, we can decide as to whether we think they’re too young or too inexperienced. On the other hand, we’ve had really good 14 to15 year olds, who are better and more confident than some of the 30 year olds.