Finally the start of the new football season is well and truly underway, and Newcastle have got off to a cracking start! So far we’ve had a draw away and THREE wins - so fingers crossed this could be our best start for a good few years! We might even break into the top four this season!

We’re hoping the takeover of Newcastle will go through, they’ll install Alan Shearer as manager, and the good start to the season will continue.  Now just to get Shearer off TV and into the dugout!

X Factor Is finally here and we’re excited to have it back on the telly along with Strictly Come Dancing. There’s not been much on the box to get us excited this summer but with Phillip Schofield’s new show The Cube, along with X Factor, it looks like things are really shaping up again on Saturday nights on ITV!

We’ve been spending some quality time on the golf course and we managed to capture some of the highlights (and celebrations!) on camera, so stayed tuned for some rather amusing videos on the way…

In the meantime, we hope you’ve been enjoying watching the chocolate challenges. You can watch this week’s one involving Rolo by clicking below:

 © 2009 Ant and Dec

The copyright in this blog is owned by Ant and Dec. If you are using a quote for publication purposes, copyright law requires you to acknowledge officialantanddec.com as the original source.

Wow…this series of Britain’s Got Talent really has been a phenomenon and we’re loving every second of it!

We’re three semi-finals down, and we’re pleased to say that some really good talent has made it through to the final. It’s been incredible, and we just can’t wait for tonight!

There are six through already, we have another four to find and we completely agree with the finalists so far - the right people have gone through and the best acts have won a deserved place. One thing that’s been common throughout these semi-finals is that everyone has been feeling the pressure. Every single act has been experiencing just how big this show is, and in particular how big the semi-finals have been. The nerves have gotten to just about everybody, and it shows!

No one has put in the perfect performance yet, the sheer scale of it all has been overwhelming. Susan Boyle hit a few dodgy notes when she first came out, but she regained her composure and put in a magnificent performance. Diversity told us that they’d never been as nervous as they were on the night, and Flawless weren’t quite flawless with a minor wobble at the very end of what was a stunning dance routine. Stavros Flatley missed a couple of steps in the middle of their number, and even the amazing Shaheen had a slight note-wobble at the beginning! So everyone is feeling the pressure big time, and can you really blame them? Nerves are to be expected and especially this year the show and the hype around it is bigger than either of us can remember, and that is bound to have an effect.

But, we’re so excited for the final because the talent that’s gone through have now experienced a live show and know what they’re in for, and most importantly they’ll want to prove themselves…and that’s going to make for a very, very exciting final.

We’re currently deep in rehearsal for tonight’s show, and the funny thing is that the corridor outside our dressing rooms is the place where all the acts and dancers meet to get ready and psyche themselves up just before they head into the studio.

They all wait outside our door which is the furthest one down, and I opened the door the other day, and little Lagi from Stavros Flatley fell straight in, dressed in full Cypriot outfit which was a surprise to say the least!  

So we get to see quite a bit of involvement backstage and the comings and goings of the acts so it’s a great vantage point before the show.

It’s been a relentless week so far - as soon as we’re out of bed we’re in a car straight to the studio where we’ll rehearse all day, do the show, go home, go to bed, get up the next morning, head straight to the studio again…so we had a welcome night off last night to watch the football, and we’re now raring to go for the second half of the week!

So, tune in tonight and let us know what you think, and don’t forget to check in tomorrow afternoon for the second part of our chocolate challenge….The Malteser Cup!

 © 2009 Ant and Dec

The copyright in this blog is owned by Ant and Dec. If you are using a quote for publication purposes, copyright law requires you to acknowledge officialantanddec.com as the original source.

So, we’re edging closer to the live semi-finals and STILL the talent keeps coming! This week gave us little Natalie, the little singer who is possibly the cutest kid we’ve had on the show. She gave us both big hugs, sang a fantastic number and managed to charm the socks off the judges - and probably charmed the socks off you all watching at home too! She was really excited to meet us on the day and was so nervous that her little teeth were still chattering after the audition, bless her. Such a big voice for such a little girl, we have to admit that we melted a bit when we met her and really hope she goes through to the semi finals.

Another impressive kid was 11 year-old Aidan Davis, an amazing dancer who’s already being dubbed as the new George Sampson, if not better.  We loved the fact he had his own distinctive look going on with his skinny jeans, flat cap and checkered scarf - he’s a little dude!  A very good mover too and he has the potential to do really well in the competition - could it be two years in a row that a young male dancer wins the series? Who knows…

This week’s granddaughter and granddad singing duo Two Grand came on and sang the Disney song A Whole New World which is the one Peter Andre and Jordan did. We hope that’s where the similarity ends; we don’t want Two Grand splitting up just yet. It was a touching story as granddad revealed that his wife died only a year ago and how he still misses her - it even got Ant welling up from the side of the stage. It was a lovely performance that went down really well with the judges and the audience in the theatre. Well done Two Grand!

But our favourite moment this week had to be the return of our old pal Brenda Isaacs. She auditioned unsuccessfully last year after a mix up with her CD track listing, thanks to her boyfriend Roy. Roy had been dragged along to the audition this year and told us he had nothing to do with the preparations this time round. Because of that the track listing worked perfectly but unfortunately the singing didn’t.  She assured us that she’ll be back again next year though, but she’s going to knock the singing on the head and try pole-dancing instead! I think you’ll agree that’s something for us all to look forward to!

We made it back from Newcastle and the football (hope you liked the vid) and have been fitted for new suits this week, getting our outfits together for the live semi’s. We’ve been trying on new shirts and ties and shoes, we’ve been like a couple of excitable girls, it’s all “Ooh, what are you wearing for show one!?” and “Ooh, how about show two!?” We’ll calm down soon I promise!  

Brace yourselves for next week when the final 40 will be revealed! Can’t wait!

Want more BGT? Catch up with Piers Morgan’s Blog by clicking here.

 © 2009 Ant and Dec

The copyright in this blog is owned by Ant and Dec. If you are using a quote for publication purposes, copyright law requires you to acknowledge officialantanddec.com as the original source.

“I am going to sing with my bottom”.  Not our words, the words of Mr. Methane who, you won’t be surprised to hear, didn’t get through. Imagine the Queen settling down for a night of entertainment and fun at the Royal Variety and we stick him in front of her. Off with all our heads. The sight of Mr. Methane, after turning up in his green cape with purple underpants like a superhero and farting away on stage, was unreal.

It was something we have never seen before, but Ant’s tried it since and it’s all gone horribly wrong! The worst bit was when he used the microphone to amplify his farts and then used the same microphone to thank the audience after his performance. Can we just say for all that have been asking, about the smell onstage, Mr. Methane was odourless so it was bearable. It was odourless, but very audible!  I have never seen Simon so disgusted and he called him a ‘disgusting creature’.  Like the Queen, we don’t think Simon farts…or carries cash! Emma Amelia Pearl declared “people have cried when they hear me sing” and said she just needed a break. After listening to her we understood why they cried and decided it was us that needed the break, from her awful singing. We loved that she had three goes at it though after telling off Piers, the audience and Simon. She tried to blame her bad performance on the backing track being too loud and the microphone being wrong, basically anything apart from herself.  We thought she had the slight look of Madge Bishop about her, except with bigger bosoms - not that we have seen Madge Bishop’s bosoms, but if you’re reading this Madge…! Lewis Taylor was a’ ventriloquist with a twist’, the twist being that he didn’t actually do any ventriloquism. Tommy the Toucan had a tape recorder inside him so technically that’s not ventriloquism, that’s more talking to a tape.
We’ve already seen that looks can be deceiving on this series of Britain’s Got Talent with Susan Boyle and Jamie Pugh taking us all by surprise and once again we had a deceptively good singer this week.  We all thought that Greg the waiter was going to come on as a rock star in his leather jacket and spiky hair but he shocked us with his rendition of Nessum Dorma. Turned out he wasn’t a rock singer after all, but a male soprano opera singer.  A thoroughly nice fellow with the highest male voice we’ve ever heard and we’ve met Joe Pasquale AND Ashley from Coronation Street.  Simon hit the nail on the head when he said he was like “a dog meowing” because it just wasn’t right but was fascinating all the same.  That is our favourite quote from Simon this week, that and “I like robots!”
We’ve actually found out quite a lot about what Simon likes this series. He gives away the odd little titbit about himself during the auditions; a peek into who he really is and what he is all about. We started keeping a little list. It read like this.

Things Simon Likes:-
Robots
Cars
Dogs
Cartoons
After looking at it we came to the conclusion that he’s basically a 12 year-old boy. Next he’ll be telling us his favourite pastimes include looking at the bra section of his Mum’s Freemans catalogue behind the sofa!
Simon also revealed on last weeks Britain’s Got More Talent that he used to love going to the Roller disco when he was younger. Roller Boogie Palace in Battersea to be specific. This is a real gem of information and could prove vital to us when it comes to general Mickey-taking at the live shows. So, if anyone reading this went to Roller Boogie Palace in Battersea about 30 years ago and remembers Simon then please feel free to get in touch with us. Photos of him in Roller-skates would be very, very much appreciated!
A magician went through tonight! Hooray! That is no mean feat, because the judges hate magic (notice it’s not on Simon’s list) He was the cutest and youngest magician we have ever had, 5 year-old Magic Thomas, and he was brilliant.  When they asked him if he’d like to meet the Queen and he said “not really” was priceless. At least he’s honest. His act was like Dec, short and simple, but it was executed to perfection.  Well done to Magic Thomas.
Simon has been going on for weeks that he wants some danger and that there hasn’t been enough jeopardy in the show but we had some this week in the form of Merlin, an escapologist who claimed he could possibly die during his act.  He wouldn’t have been the first act to die up on the BGT stage this year let us assure you. He says he is a modern day Houdini who escaped from chains and juggled fire whilst underwater.  He assured us that if he makes it to the semi finals his act will be even more dangerous.  It was very tense in the theatre during his audition, everyone was on edge, even Simon who had been asking for danger. It could have all gone horribly wrong but thankfully he made it unscathed.
We’ve only just calmed down after seeing all the stripping this week. A lot of flesh was on show, red hot stuff! We had loads of burlesque auditions this year, which is basically just a fancy name for stripping, though not as many as we’d like! The stripping/burlesque sequence ended with a performance from the Dream Bears, three hairy men doing the ‘Can-Can’. And why not!?  We thought the whole stripping montage was a bit too short; we will try and persuade the powers that be to extend that and make it a bit longer for next week. There was something in there for the girls too, with a bit of naked male torso action. Dec even got a hug from one stripper. A male one mind you! Beggars can’t be choosers though eh? We have to cuddle everybody and take what we are given!
Sean Smith, the rugby player with a good voice rounded off this week, he reminded Simon of a better looking Mick Hucknall with personality. We think it was supposed to be a compliment although it doesn’t feature on his list of things he likes! Just two more weeks until the live shows people, not long now! We’re getting far too excited already!  Catch you next week X

For more on Britain’s Got Talent check out Piers Morgan’s official blog here

 © 2009 Ant and Dec

The copyright in this blog is owned by Ant and Dec. If you are using a quote for publication purposes, copyright law requires you to acknowledge officialantanddec.com as the original source.

Week three and the talent keeps on coming! One of our many favourites was definitely DJ Talent, the rapper who performed that catchy little number, Britain’s Got Talent!

We defy any of you who watched the show to not have the rap stuck in your heads! Remember? “When I say Britain, you say Talent… it’s Britain’s got talent its DJ Talent!” And that’s basically it. Complete with all the bling and gold teeth, in the end he went through simply because the song is so addictive it stuck in the judges’ heads! So, how many of you reading the blog now are singing the Britain’s Got Talent rap? It’s certainly a bit different from Susan Boyle!

While we’re on the subject of Susan, over 100m hits later, she’s still gracing the front page of all the papers - and what about that make-over! She’s had a trim and coloured her hair, had her eyebrows done and looks quite nice, but I have to say we loved her the way she was. Let’s hope it’s not like in the tale of Sampson and Delilah when he cuts off his hair and loses all his strength, hopefully Susan hasn’t been over blow-dried and evaporated her singing voice! Perhaps the mini-makeover is because of her impending dinner date with Piers, but we fear she’ll need a lot more than that to get through a date with him!

It looks like Flawless have competition in the form of dance group Diversity who the judges absolutely loved this week. Anyone who thought we’d found the definitive dance group for this competition is wrong as they are definitely contenders to their crown. Their style is a little different to Flawless’s but no less impressive. They’re creative, they use a few nice gimmicks (like having a very small child climb out of a hold-all!) and there are a few sound effects chucked in too. It’s going to be interesting to see if both of them, or which of them, or if either of them, go through to the live semi finals.

Speaking of the live semi’s, we’ve actually forgotten who’s made it through to the final 40 acts! Having seen so many during the auditions and interviewed just about every one of them it’s all a bit blurry! We did the deliberation days, but it was so long ago that we watch the show now and it’s still really entertaining for us, trying to decide (and remember!) who went through.

Other highlights this week included Hollie, our lovely little ballerina who has the sweetest little voice. There’s Tia-Anna, the drag artist who was allegedly unlike other drag acts because of his voice, which was his secret weapon. If that’s the case then it needs to sharpening ‘cos boy was it blunt! He thought that he’d seen us ‘drag up’ in the past and we have to admit we have, but only for televisual purposes - well, that’s what we’re telling you lot anyway…

Piers was almost directly responsible for the gruesome death of Mike, the former swimming pool manager as he performed a handstand over a knife, something you should definitely NOT try at home! He thankfully pulled it off, despite Piers buzzing at the crucial moment and Amanda freaking out. Knowing Piers, he would have timed that! The best part of that audition for us though is watching Simon almost jump out of his skin when Piers buzzes! It’s priceless! It’s our second favourite ‘Simon Moment’ of the series after his cherubic *SIGH* during Susan Boyle’s audition. He looks like a teenager in love!

Check out this week’s contestants gallery HERE.

The Prince of Darkness was on great form this week and sent us both a text to celebrate how well the show was going. He must have been on a high with the ratings and thought, “I must tell the boys how well they are doing” so when he becomes grumpy old Simon again and we’re forcing someone BACK on stage or just generally larking about, we’ll show him those texts again and remind him how fabulous he thinks we are!

Apart from BGT, there’s loads of great TV at the moment…we’re both loving Marco and Hell’s Kitchen, The Inbetweeners which is very funny, The Apprentice is riveting, we don’t have any favourites yet - it’s more about who we don’t like! James talks a bit too much and Ben seems too full of himself . We were a bit gutted when Paula went though, she was great and had nice, red hair. There’s not enough of that on TV!

We’re still catching up on Heroes and are really into Lost, they are (finally!) starting to answer some questions and tricky plot angles which is exciting. We’re also both trying season one of The Wire. The jury is out thus far but whilst we’re not really feeling it yet we’re going to stick with it; right now it feels like a joke that everyone else gets but we don’t!

We’re also in a bit of training, having had a couple of sporting challenges come our way recently. Our 5-a-side football team has been challenged to an 11-a-side game against the coaches from Brentford FC in a couple of weeks time. Brentford is our closest football league team so we’re going to give them a game. We’ve also been challenged to a round of golf against Piers Morgan and the Exec Producer of BGT, Richard Holloway. There’s money riding on it too as Piers was in the bar one night after the auditions bragging about what a great golfer he was and that he’d wipe the floor with us so and we’re going to try and fit that in the next few weeks. We’d love it if we beat him, LOVE IT!

Tomorrow night is the BAFTA Awards, so keep please everything crossed for us!

Finally, we need your help. We need you all to keep your fingers crossed Monday night, say a little prayer, light a candle, wish upon a star, whatever! It’s Newcastle Vs Portsmouth in the Premier League and we HAVE to win. We have got to win our last 3 home games before the end of the season. Bearing in mind we have only won 4 all year and there are only 3 left it doesn’t bode too well. We’ll be glued to that and we’re keeping the faith, we need everyone to rally behind the team, all the 52,000 who’ll be packed into St. James Park. We need the crowd to be the 13th man, it’s a game of two halves and if we go down we’ll be as sick as a parrot and all the other sporting clichés! Big Alan can do it…we have ultimate faith in him, it’s ‘Squeaky Bum’ time as they call it in footballing circles and we have to show bounce-back-ability! HAWAY THE LADS!!!

If you want more on BGT check out Piers Morgan’s official blog by clicking here.

 © 2009 Ant and Dec

The copyright in this blog is owned by Ant and Dec. If you are using a quote for publication purposes, copyright law requires you to acknowledge officialantanddec.com as the original source.