BGT is bigger than Strictly, especially now I’m on it says Bruno Tonioli in dig at BBC show
BRITAIN’S Got Talent is bigger than rival Strictly Come Dancing insists new judge Bruno Tonioli.
He’s a shock addition to the ITV panel after 17 series on the BBC’s Strictly, but Bruno reckons: “This is the biggest show on TV — I mean it, it is now that I’m here.”
And he says his relationship with fellow judges Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden is “great” after an unseemly pay row overshadowed news of his new job.
Bruno, 67, joined Simon Cowell, 63, Amanda, 51, and Alesha, 44, this week for BGT auditions at the London Palladium
And after filming for the first time, the Italian dancer declared to us: “This is the biggest show on British TV, now that I’m here.
“I mean it. Oh, Simon is going to hate that I’ve said that — but oh well.
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"I have nothing bad to say about Strictly, it changed my life.
“This is completely different and it’s a completely different sort of judging.
"The range of this show, you see things that you have no idea are coming.
“I have been in showbiz for 50 years now and I’ve worked with everyone from Tina Turner and French and Saunders to Michael Caine, so I know when something works and I know why it works.
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“I know what this job needs.”
Demonstrative Bruno beat comic Alan Carr, 46, to replace David Walliams, 51, on the panel.
And he insisted there will be no hard feelings with Alan, adding: “It won’t be awkward at all.
“I haven’t had a clue about his negotiations. I love Alan and I know him, he is a very nice guy.
“I didn’t know the situation with him, nothing was announced, and that’s showbusiness.
“This was down to ITV — and I just said yes to the job when it was offered. He’s a professional, he knows how things go.”
Bruno adds: “I was actually on holiday and I got a text message from Simon’s girlfriend.
“We’ve been friends for a long time, me and Simon, and she suggested we all get together.
“I had no idea this job was around. I arrived in London on the ninth of January and my agent had a call from ITV.
“I had no idea what it was about other than he said, ‘oh its something very big’ and I thought ‘that’s good’.
“Then I had a meeting on the 13th with ITV and I thought great, this is fantastic.
“I have known Simon forever. I know that the show is right up my street.
"There were no long negotiations, I just said ‘yes, I want to do it’.
“It happened so fast that I have practically nothing to wear. I am going to have to go shopping next week when I get to Manchester, I must make Simon pay . . . actually he’s teased me about joining for years and then never offered me the job, so I still didn’t believe it until it finally happened.”
Bruno, whose name was chanted by fans as he arrived for filming this week, joined BGT on a reported salary of £850,000.
It’s understood Amanda and Alesha were put out by rumours he would get more than them.
They formed a pact to quit unless they were satisfied and a happy settlement was reached amid fears Simon would have to step in.
Bruno has defended himself over the furore and insists that he had no idea what his co-stars are getting paid, but says their relationship is now “great”.
He explains: “It is very vulgar to talk about money but I am definitely not getting what has been claimed.
“I don’t know what the girls are getting but if they are getting more now then good for them, they deserve everything.
“There is no frostiness with the girls of course not. Who is frosty? We have been having a laugh.
“This is working with a group of mates. I have known Alesha since Mis-Teeq and then of course from when she was on Strictly.
“I have known Amanda since we met at a small party for Simon’s 50th. We all enjoy each other and respect each other.
“When I am on the panel the volume is a bit higher.
“Simon already has a headache — he said I gave him a migraine yesterday, but we’ve known each other for years, since before he was a big deal.
“He asked me to choreograph a video for his then-girlfriend, Sinitta back in the Eighties but it wasn’t So Macho or Toy Boy, I got lumbered with a naff one.
“Simon used to drive a TVR in those days, it was very vulgar, and he was still living at home with his parents.
"I remember one day I went to visit and he had this rambling rose that was so unkempt so I got out my pliers and just trimmed his bush. He was furious.”
Bruno was drafted on to the BGT panel when David quit after ten years.
That followed allegations that Walliams had made disparaging remarks about some of the contestants which had been picked up by a microphone.
But despite the uncomfortable exit, he was quick to congratulate his replacement on bagging the coveted role — sending a gift and a warm message of support.
Bruno says: “David was actually the very first person that sent me a text and a fantastic bottle of wine. He’s a very good friend.
“We worked with each other ages ago on a film The Body In The Library and he was one of the cast.
"The second text was from Piers Morgan, he’s even trickier than Simon.
“He begged me for six months to be on his Life Stories.
“When we were both in America I saw a lot of Simon on the CBS lot.
"I was doing Dancing with the Stars and he was doing American Idol, but my trailer was like a milk float and his was magnificent, he had a beautiful pile.
“But one weekend he left his jacuzzi on all weekend and flooded the place, including my trailer — and it ruined a pair of beautiful blue suede Dior boots I had just bought.
"I was furious. He owes me a pair of boots.”
Bruno spent years juggling being a judge on Strictly and its US counterpart Dancing with the Stars.
Covid restrictions put paid to him jetting across the Atlantic and in 2021 he left permanently.
He was replaced by former pro Anton Du Beke.
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Because BGT auditions start in the first half of the year, Bruno would still be free to judge on Dancing With The Stars in the autumn.
But he says his dancing days are now well and truly over after appearing recently on The Masked Dancer as Pearly King, which he jokes “ruined my back”.
