Britain's Got talent viewers slam 'distasteful' ITV announcement intro seconds into show

Britain's Got Talent viewers were left unhappy by a 'distasteful' ITV News skit which kicked this evening's edition of the prime-time show off. As the show opened, an ITV News intro began playing, before a presenter addressed the camera, saying: "Welcome to ITV News."

It was quickly revealed that the announcement was part of the show, with the presenter continuing: "This year's series of Britain's Got Talent has taken the nation by storm and we can now cross to hosts Ant and Dec, who alongside the judges, are taking questions from the press."

The station then swept to a shot of Bruno, Alesha, Amanda and Simon sat behind a press conference table, before Ant and Dec said: "Welcome ladies and gentlemen of the press. Any questions?"

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The skit was then unveiled as a number of children asking the BGT questions such as: "Ant, why does that little boy follow you around the whole time?" referring to Declan Donnelly, and: "Mr Cowell, do you have to eat all of your broccoli before you're allowed to watch TV?"

And while producers were hoping for some light-hearted comedy to kick off the show, a number of viewers were left outraged by the skit. Some said they thought an official news announcement was interrupting broadcasting, while others complained that it was cheesy.

One person fumed: "A bit distasteful to start #BGT with a itv news after last night," while another complained: "What is this pretentious *** at the start of BGT.. I'm turning over...!!" A third went on: "I'm balling BGT," while a fourth added: "What are these silly show openings #bgt."

Another complained: "What in the Year 8 Drama Class is going on here?!" while another social media user wrote: "Hi I'm just back to tweet that the itv news intro into #BGT **** me up thinking there was some breaking news." A further social media user complained: "Suddenly thought it was world war 3 announcement."

It comes after ITV news presenter Rageh Omaar had a health scare on Friday night while presenting live on ITV's News at Ten programme. The journalist seemed to have difficulty speaking during Friday night's broadcast, causing alarm among viewers who shared their concerns on social media.