Simon Cowell 'demands last minute YouTube auditions' ahead of start of Britain's Got Talent live shows

By Jody Thompson
Updated: 06:00 EST, 3 March 2011

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Simon Cowell has reportedly ordered extra auditions for Britain's Got Talent, including asking for wannabes to enter via YouTube, just weeks before this year's show goes on air.

The news has lead to fears that the quality of this year's entrants is down and that the judges have yet to uncover a talent to equal Paul Potts, Spellbound, Susan Boyle of Diversity.

Simon, 51, who is executive producer of BGT, ordered the massive shake-up despite the show being scheduled to start next month.

Rethink: Simon Cowell, who was on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in the U.S. last night, is said to have asked for more last minute

He's stepped down from being a judge during the audition process - and has been replaced by David Hasselhoff - to concentrate on launching X Factor USA later this year.

However, he is due to return to the show when the live finals get underway next month.

The Daily Star reports a show source as saying: 'Cowell’s announcement is going to turn the show on its head.'

Wannabes: The show's head honcho is said to be disappointed by the standard of auditions so far this year

The paper says Cowell now wants more potential acts to audition via YouTube, then judges David Hasselhoff, 58, Michael McIntyre, 34, and Amanda Holden, 40, will have to trawl through the clips.

Any promising fresh acts will then be added to the ones already chosen by the judges for the live semis on ITV when the show returns to our screens.

The stunt was tried and tested on America’s Got Talent last year and proved a hit.

Ten-year-old singing sensation Jackie Evancho applied online and was eventually voted the show’s runner-up.

Success: Cowell is hoping to uncover a show superstar on a Susan Boyle-style scale via YouTube auditions

Simon it thought to secretly hoping he'll be able to find the next Justin Bieber, who shot to fame via the video-hosting site.

The Daily Mail revealed in January that show bosses were allowing acts to send in show reels via YouTube this year rather than complete an initial audition to speed up the process for acts producers saw as 'better quality.'

One up-and-coming magician, who asked not to be named, was sent an email from a researcher inviting him on the show which said: ‘To make applications easier for people — especially at this busy time of year — we’re now accepting showreels in lieu of an initial audition.

‘If you were interested all you would need to do is forward me a YouTube link or DVD of the type of act you would do for the judges if you got to the theatre. If you then got through to the Live Finals you wouldn’t be needed until the first week of May — so the series really doesn’t take up too much time from your diary.’

Back to work: Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden arriving at the first of the auditions at London's Hammersmith Apollo in January

Meanwhile, Amanda Holden is set to return to the show following the tragic loss of her unborn baby at six months pregnant, just days after the Britain's Got Talent auditions finished at the end of January.

She will also begin rehearsing for her West End role as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical next month.

She will be joined by former EastEnders star Nigel Harman, Richard Blackwood and Nigel Harman in the production, which opens on May 6.