Anyone been to a BGT audition?

[Thruaglassdarkly]

Ok, my 10 year old DD LOVES singing and she's pretty good. She's had lead roles in the school play and sang solos in our local theatre with her Musical Theatre class.
For fun, I asked her if she wanted to enter BGT. She was thrilled by the idea, so now we have an audition coming up.
Have any of you ever been to these auditions? If so, what can we expect on the day? I've not even really watched the show, and neither has she. For her, it's a bit of fun and she doesn't expect to even get beyond the first round, as she knows it's competitive. But she's looking forward to the experience of doing something like this.
We're just not sure what to expect is all.
Anyone?

I've seen the audition process.

She'll be kept waiting a long time, she will initially sing in front of the show's producers.

If they think she has potential then she may be asked to sing in front of the celebrity judges - this may be at a later date and possibly even a different venue.
They also get very bad acts to perform in front of the celeb judges as well but they don't tend to do that with kids.

oh and if she does a good interview in front of the producers they will want to interview you to see if there is a good back story. they love a story.

she watched her grandmother get eaten by a polar bear and gran's last words were: 'make me proud little Suzie,' - that sort of bollocks.

Thanks :) She's been given 9am as her audition time. Is that when they open the doors or will she be seen then? Also do they do the kids first?

I have no back story. Kid likes to sing. The end. Maybe I'll have to make one up ;)

Second thoughts I REALLY don't want to be on telly. feeling fat

Personally, I wouldn't let my dc do something like this at such a young age. It's exploitative television, and if they do well, it can be a lot of pressure.

But you've decided to do it so I hope she enjoys the experience and wish her the best of luck! :)

Ummm...I know the judges can be rude to the really poor acts, but they won't be to a child. Surely? If I thought otherwise, I wouldn't consider it. Not anticipating her doing that well. Just thought it would be fun is all. Thank you for the good wishes :)

The people who will feature on the programme have already been chosen. Just a lot of waiting around, and possible humiliation. NOT for children.

We've been through this 3 times. My DS auditioned:

1. at 11 - did a little juggling / silliness routine for producers
2. at 14 - ventriloquist act - for producers, then for judges round - got four No's, but positive "come back again" type feedback
3. at 17 - ventriloquist act - was invited straight to judges round, got four Yes's, went to the decision day where you get filmed to see if you are through to live shows - he wasn't (last year).

Throughout, we had our eyes open. He never felt humiliated. We saw it as an opportunity to see how the business works and it was fun to be a bit "in the know" when watching back on the TV. We knew it was "fixed" in many ways - even this year he was rung a couple of days before the final judges rounds filming to day they didn't have enough variety acts, could he come along? (He didn't in the end)

It was a fabulous opportunity to people watch, and to chat to other people in the entertainment industry. The staff behind the scenes work tirelessly and were all lovely, kind, welcoming, really helpful.

If you go, do be prepared for hours of waiting around, although you will always be with your daughter as she is young. At our last trip, he was old enough to be at endless interviews and incidental filming on his own, so I spent a lot of the day sat with the couple of his friends who had gone along (who incidentally were competitors on the Voice at the same time, but it hadn't yet been screened - so they knew what to expect!).

Take plenty of your own food and drink - the venues we have been at had very little, and nothing is provided for you.

Go "all dressed up and ready to perform", don't take a chance on changing outfits once you get there. Oh, and if you have any real expectation that she will get through to the judges, go wearing clothes and with a haircut that you would be prepared to wear again a few weeks later - you are not allowed to change your appearance for the sake of continuity!

Would he do it again now? Probably not, as there is always a risk to your career that the way you are projected on TV is negative. But, TV exposure is absolutely critical to gain some leg ups in this business. He's doing OK though, at 18, is performing his own show on cruise ships, to audiences of up to 1000 at a time, leaving for the Far East in a couple of weeks, and the Caribbean shortly after that. Didn't need BGT for that!

My choir has done it twice both times yes from judges and then dropped a few days before the filming in London. I didn't do it as wasn't in the choir first time round. They said never again after they messed us around the second time.

The first audition is in a room with a person and a camera. You'll wait in line for about 2 hours outside before you get in the building and then get shuffled from area to area over the course of many other hours.

You won't be on telly and you won't be in front of any judges.. This is merely an elimination thing to weed through hundreds and hundreds of people.

Wrap up warm.. take your own food and drink. It's quite interesting really but I would rather grate my face off than do it again

My daughter loved it though.. she got quite the buzz from the whole experience.