David Walliams' BGT future 'up in the air'

David Walliams' future on 'Britain's Got Talent' is "up in the air".

The 51-year-old comedian is rumoured to be stepping away from the judging panel of the next series of the talent show - on which he has appeared since 2012 - but

programme bosses have insisted no decisions on the line-up have been made yet.

A spokesperson said: “The judging panel for Britain’s Got Talent 2023 will be announced in due course.

“It’s still very much up in the air at the moment on whether David is going to take part in next year’s show. No decision, though, has been made as yet.”

Auditions are not due to begin for another two months so it is believed none of the judging panel, which also includes Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and Alesha Dixon, are currently officially contracted to the show.

Questions were raised about David's future on the show after "disrespectful comments" he made about 'BGT' contestants in a recording of an audition show at the London Palladium in January 2020 were leaked, prompting him to apologise.

According to a leaked transcript, he called one contestant a "****".

Of another, he said: "She’s like the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t."

He reiterated: "She thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t."

The 'Little Britain' star then added: "I know, she’s just like, ‘Oh, f*** off!’ I was saying, she thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t. It’s the last thing on your mind, but she’s like, ‘Yep, I bet you do!’ ‘No I don’t!’ "

David insisted the conversations were "never intended to be shared", but said sorry.

He said in a statement: "I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for 'Britain’s Got Talent' in 2020. These were private conversations and - like most conversations with friends - were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry."