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Walliams was judging alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon when the remarks were made. Shortly after the transcript was leaked, the former Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli was announced as David Walliams’ replacement on Britain’s Got Talent in January 2023. G-Wok (September 2000). "Deep Fighter Review (DC)". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015 . Retrieved July 8, 2020. The Thames spokesperson added: “Contestants are at the very heart of everything on Britain’s Got Talent. We are an inclusive show open to anyone – and we are grateful to every single act who auditions.”

Already an established national media presence, Walliams had conquered the worlds of comedy, stage and screen including writing and starring in award-winning programmes like Little Britain when in 2008 he turned his talent to fiction, writing his first book for children, The Boy in the Dress. Thinks he can go all the way to the final!” a casting team staffer apparently wrote of one “buzz off” contestant. “Only put through because he is so unlikeable.” A note beside another contestant said: “Not sure that she is quite bad enough.” Separately, the Guardian has also seen a 2012 casting list from Britain’s Got Talent, used by staff involved in recruiting potential contestants, that labeled some of them “buzz off”, abbreviated to “BO”. The document suggests the show’s production staff selected contestants they expected would fail in the talent contest. Further picture books have followed, including The First Hippo on the Moon and The Bear Who Went Boo as well as a book specially written to support Comic Relief, The Queen’s Orang-utan.

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Five former employees who worked for the show’s casting team told the Guardian the terms “BO” and “buzz off” were code for potentially amusing contestants who production staff believed might perform poorly and be rejected by the judges. Two of the former production staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the term was still being used in 2016. After an unsuccessful audition, the pensioner walked off stage. When he was out of earshot, the transcript suggests, Walliams described him as “a cunt” three times. a b c d MacDonald, Ryan (August 28, 2000). "Deep Fighter Review (DC)". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 20, 2001 . Retrieved July 8, 2020.

Walliams’ comments were the only instances of derogatory remarks about contestants in leaked transcripts from three episodes that were reviewed by the Guardian. There is no suggestion that Simon Cowell or any other judge made offensive remarks about contestants. ITV has repeatedly faced questions in recent months about the treatment of contestants on some of its best-loved reality shows. Earlier this summer, Love Island prompted 3,617 complaints to the media regulator, Ofcom, about perceived misogynistic behaviour from some male participants. In March, another ITV programme, The Jeremy Kyle Show, was the subject of an excoriating Channel 4 documentary that detailed an allegedly toxic culture.Lyon, James (November 2000). "Deep Fighter". PC Zone. No.95. Dennis Publishing. p.78 . Retrieved July 9, 2020. Walliams, one of the UK’s best-known television personalities and children’s book authors, announced he was leaving Britain’s Got Talent in November 2022 after it was reported that he had made disrespectful comments about contestants on the show. The actor and comedian had been part of the judging lineup since 2012 but his position came into question after the Guardian saw a leaked transcript of offensive comments he had made during an audition show at the London Palladium in January 2020.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Got Talent said next year’s judging lineup was yet to be finalised and no decision had been taken on whether Walliams would be involved. A report in the Sun, however, stated that he would be leaving the programme after 10 years. Thames TV, the production company behind Britain’s Got Talent, which is part of FremantleMedia, said the company regarded Walliams’ comments as private but that his language was “inappropriate”. Lawyers for Walliams and Thames TV said the comments were part of a private conversation never intended for broadcast. They stressed that all contestants were assessed by the judges, based on their performance on the day, and the outcome was never predetermined. The lawyers added that Thames “holds its contestants in the highest regard”, did not “practise or condone any exploitative or unethical practices towards BGT contributors” and had a “thorough and robust” welfare support system in place for contestants.D'Aprile, Jason (August 23, 2000). "Deep Fighter (DC)". Gamecenter. CNET. Archived from the original on October 18, 2000 . Retrieved September 4, 2021.