A close up of the Golden Buzzer on the Judge’s desk.
The Golden Buzzer is a buzzer on the Judges' Panel which, when pressed, automatically grants an act a place in the Semi-Finals. The Judges, and hosts Ant & Dec, each have one opportunity per series to press it for any act they decide. The Golden Buzzer was introduced in Series 8 of Britain's Got Talent and has been present in every series since. From the Semi-Finals onwards, The Golden Buzzer is no longer present until the next series with the exception of the Series 9 finale where it was placed for a member of Dance Group of Entity Allstars to hit with a Jo-Staff, where Alesha Dixon’s X was lit up in Gold.
When the Golden Buzzer is pressed, the Judge's corresponding X on the front of the Judges' desk and above the stage will illuminate Gold instead of Red, The stage background also turns gold. With Ant & Dec's Golden Buzzer, since they do not have an X of their own. None of the Judges' X symbols illuminate.
The Stage When The Golden Buzzer Has Been Pressed.
To date, it has been been taken advantage of a total of five times. David Walliams used his first two Golden Buzzers (Series 8 & Series 9) on Christian Spridon and Lorraine Bowen. These acts were both seen as comical despite the first portraying himself as a serious artist. - Stephen Mulhern, the host of Britain's Got More Talent, pressed the Golden Buzzer for David J Watson in 2019, after his 10th appearance on the show; however this was confirmed to have no effect by officials, and by David Walliams who pointed out that "he doesn't even have a Golden Buzzer". In Series 16, both Bruno Tonioli and Simon Cowell used the Golden Buzzer twice and this series also saw the introduction of the Group Golden Buzzer. In Series 17, each judge had once again used all their Golden Buzzers in London, and as a result of this, each judge was permitted two Golden Buzzer’s, with 1 in London and 1 in Manchester to make things fairer for the Auditionees in Manchester who did not audition in London.
In Series 8 (2014) a total of two golden buzzer acts made the finals. In Series 9 (2015) three golden buzzer acts made the finals. In Series 10 (2016) a total of four golden buzzer acts made the finals. History was made in Series 11 (2017) with all five golden buzzer acts making the final after Sarah Ikumu was chosen as the wildcard and prior to this she was the one golden buzzer of the series, who saw herself eliminated. In Series 12 (2018) three golden buzzer acts made the final. In Series 13 (2019) most of the golden buzzers were contestants of previous fame, or professional acts, although but two of them who did not have previous fame and were not professional acts made the final. In Series 14 (2020) three golden buzzer acts made the final, with Jon Courtenay becoming the first ever Golden Buzzer act to win the main show, alongside fellow Golden Buzzer act Sign Along With Us placing as the Runners-Up, whilst the third golden buzzer to make the final, Nabil Abdulrashid failed to make the Top 3.
In the spin-off show The Champions (Series 1) (2019) there were a few changes to the golden buzzer which only occured on the said spin-off show. The changes were that only one select judge got to use the golden buzzer weekly, and the golden buzzer acts advanced straight through to the final as the spin-off began at the semi-finals stage, yet had the golden buzzer enabled.
More British Got Talent brand history was made in The Champions (Series 1) with the entirety of the top three being golden buzzer acts, thus making Twist and Pulse the first ever golden buzzer act to win a British Got Talent Show, with fellow golden buzzer acts Stavros Flatley coming second and Kseniya Simonova coming third respectively.
Acts who have been given the 'Golden Buzzer'[]
Series 8[]
- Paddy and Nico (Amanda Holden)
- Christian Spridon (David Walliams)
- REAformed (Alesha Dixon)
- Bars and Melody (Simon Cowell)
- Toju (Ant & Dec)
Series 9[]
- Calum Scott (Simon Cowell)
- Boyband (Ant & Dec)
- Revelation Avenue (Amanda Holden)
- Entity All Stars (Alesha Dixon)
- Lorraine Bowen (David Walliams)
Series 10[]
- Beau Dermott (Amanda Holden)
- 100 Voices of Gospel (Alesha Dixon)
- Anne & Ian Marshall (David Walliams)
- Jasmine Elcock (Ant & Dec)
- Boogie Storm (Simon Cowell)
Series 11[]
- Sarah Ikumu (Simon Cowell)
- Just Us/MerseyGirls (Alesha Dixon)
- Daliso Chaponda (Amanda Holden)
- Matt Edwards (Ant & Dec)
- Kyle Tomlinson (David Walliams)
Series 12[]
- Marc Spelmann (Ant & Dec)
- Jack & Tim (Simon Cowell)
- Donchez Dacres (David Walliams)
- Lifford Shillingford (Alesha Dixon)
- Gruffydd Wyn (Amanda Holden)
Series 13[]
- Flakefleet Primary (David Walliams)
- Kojo Anim (Simon Cowell)
- Akshat Singh (Ant & Dec)
- Giorgia Borg (Alesha Dixon)
- Chapter 13 (Amanda Holden)
The Champions Series 1[]
- Kseniya Simonova (Amanda Holden)
- Alexa Lauenberger (Ant & Dec)
- Paddy and Nico (David Walliams)
- Stavros Flatley (Simon Cowell)
- Twist and Pulse (Alesha Dixon)
Series 14[]
- Sign Along With Us (David Walliams)
- Jon Courtenay (Ant & Dec)
- Fayth Ifil (Simon Cowell)
- Honey & Sammy (Amanda Holden)
- Nabil Abdulrashid (Alesha Dixon)
Series 15[]
- Loren Allred (Amanda Holden)
- Axel Blake (Simon Cowell)
- Born To Perform (David Walliams)
- Keiichi Iwasaki (Ant & Dec)
- Flintz & T4ylor (Alesha Dixon)
Series 16[]
- Ghetto Kids (Bruno Tonioli - 1st Golden Buzzer)
- Malakai Bayoh (Simon Cowell - 1st Golden Buzzer)
- Chicken Shed (Alesha Dixon)
- Olivia Lynes (Amanda Holden)
- MB14 (Ant & Dec)
- Gamal John (Bruno Tonioli - 2nd Golden Buzzer)
- Unity (Simon Cowell - 2nd Golden Buzzer)
- Musa Motha (Group Golden Buzzer)
Series 17[]
Golden Buzzer Acts[]
Series 8[]
Series 9[]
Series 10[]
Series 11[]
Series 12[]
Series 13[]
The Champions (Series 1)[]
Series 14[]
Series 15[]
Series 16[]
