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Tears, tantrums and utterly bonkers talent: As BGT returns, the judges Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell

Tears, tantrums and utterly bonkers talent: As BGT returns, the judges Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon reveal their saucy high jinks, bitter celebrity feuds and the weirdest impressionist they've ever seen

You can't really imagine Amanda Holden not looking her bewitching and immaculate best.

But Britain's Got Talent is back, and the beautiful can soon turn decidedly bonkers behind the scenes on this barmy Saturday-night extravaganza.

Amanda has just been running around in circles backstage, stilettos in hand, as she desperately tried to escape fellow judge Simon Cowell, who had a pile of greasy spaghetti to tip over her and her stunning outfit.

'Simon got pranked and I managed to dodge one, so he chased me all over backstage,' Amanda laughs.

'I ripped my heels off and was trying to run as fast as possible over the dirty backstage floor which was horrific. Everyone was going mad because obviously I had a fresh blow dry and a beautiful dress on. But oh my God, I was a wreck by the end.

'If Simon and I had gone to school together, we'd both have been in detention a lot. He's a pigtail-puller and still tries to feed me false information about contestants coming on stage in the hope that I might make a mistake. He's full of mischief.'

And what contestants they are on this 17th series of the ITV talent show, including a Japanese man who does impressions using his hair, an act featuring cardboard cut-outs of the judges and a pogo-stick jumper who reaches incredible heights.

The usual golden buzzer rule (that each judge can use it only once per series to send an act that most impresses them straight to the live shows) has been discarded, with Simon, Amanda and fellow judge Bruno Tonioli using it for three of the first 20 acts they saw this season.

And in good old slapstick style – both on and off stage – there has been plenty of custard-pie throwing, not to mention Amanda saucily sitting on Simon's back as he was doing his press-ups, with Bruno joking, 'Is that how you got the job, love?'

Amanda, always game for a laugh, says, 'I just pretended to sit on Simon while he was doing his press-ups. Not my full weight, obviously. Everyone, including my husband Chris, thought it was funny.'

At the heart of the high jinks is the trusted close friendship between Amanda and Simon, as well as with their co-judges Bruno and Alesha Dixon.

Simon was on the receiving end of snide and bitchy remarks made by his former X Factor colleagues Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne on Celebrity Big Brother recently.

Sharon said she was 'furious' with Simon because she claimed he didn't renew her contract when she expected he would, meaning she claims she lost out on another major TV gig, while Louis said that he and Simon no longer speak very often.

And they both poked fun at his appearance, with Sharon joking that her former boss would 'need more botox' by the time she'd finished exposing him to the nation.

Amanda's disgust is tangible. 'I hated seeing certain people in a reality show dissing Simon – he's the person who's given them all the chances, given them a lot of money and a lifestyle they probably wouldn't have had. It's bitter and pathetic. It was like Cinderella with her two sisters in the background – just stabby, stabby, stabby. I thought, 'Oh my God, it's like watching a pantomime.'

'I just think they look so nasty and awful. There was a friendship there and an opportunity. So however the business ends, you should have respect for the opportunity that was given to you and the pay cheque that was given to you. Just be gracious. There was none of that and I can't bear it.'

Fortunately Simon, 64, is adept at managing this kind of public malice. 'I have no phone and I never go on social media, so I don't have a clue what's going on most of the time. It's part of the key to happiness,' says Simon, who is father to ten-year-old Eric with his long-term partner Lauren Silverman.

'It's like when you were younger and you found out things because your friends told you, but you didn't look for stuff. I live a bit like that now. When I turned my phone off eight years ago, that was the beginning.

#bgt #britishgottalent #simoncowell #alishadixon