Britain's Got Talent in chaos as Simon Cowell chokes live on air and struggles to talk

Simon Cowell struggled to speak live on air during the Britain’s Got Talent final this evening.

11 acts took to the stage tonight, with hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly watching over proceedings. The four judges – Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli – were also present tonight but have no say on who will be crowned this year’s winner and will bag themselves a chance to wow the Royal Family at the Royal Variety Performance.

As they gave their verdicts on Amy Lou’s performance, Ant and Dec went to ask Simon his thoughts on it, but he had to pass them over to Bruno as he started choking. He said he had something stuck in his throat and struggled to speak.

When they eventually came round to speak to Simon, he cleared his throat multiple times as he asked Amy Lou what the show meant to her, as she told them she was doing it for her family.

Ant and Dec quizzed Simon on if he was ok

Britain’s Got Talent’s 2023 series has been one to remember – but not without some shocking scenes. We’ve had magicians, dangerous stuntmen as well as singers, dancers and comedians trying to wow us for a place in the final.

There are 11 finalists – including a wildcard as chosen by the judges – after some big semi-final shows, which saw two hopefuls earn their place in the final show every night. The first one was chosen by the public and the second was chosen by the judges. If they couldn’t decide, and voted 2 a piece for the two acts, it meant they went back to the public vote to see who made it through.

However, the live semi-finals weren’t without some chaotic scenes as Ant McPartlin slipped up on Monday’s show, falling hard on his back, much to the horror of his presenting partner Dec Donnelly and Diversity star Ashley Banjo.

Dec appeared shocked as checked whether Ant was OK, helping him up as he tried to laugh it off.

Ant fell spectacularly earlier this week

Unable to resist the chance to rib Ant, Simon Cowell quipped it was his “favourite opening ever”, but asked: “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” a red-faced Ant replied. “Let’s get on shall we?”

After the fall, v iewers took to Twitter to share their concern for the TV star, as one wrote: “I reckon that hurt more than he could show, bruises tomorrow.” Another added: “That looked SO painful. Hope Ant’s ok.”

The official Britain’s Got Talent account later took to social media to insist Ant was doing ok, but he was seen with a nasty bruise on his face the following day. Dec also joked about the fall as him saying the finals were “back with a bang” led to a joke.

He told Ant: “Well you did, you whooped up in the air and bang on your back… it was a beauty.”