ITV Britain's Got Talent hit with 54 Ofcom complaints over 'disgusting' act

Britain's Got Talent has received Ofcom complaints after viewers were left feeling queasy by a 'disgusting' act as the show kicked off a new series this weekend. The popular ITV talent programme, hosted by dynamic duo Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, returned for its 17th series at the weekend.

Judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli welcomed a fresh batch of hopefuls on the stage. But not all of the performances impressed viewers, with one particular act sparking a flurry of complaints to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.

The watchdog received 54 complaints following the launch episode of Britain's Got Talent on Saturday night. The grievances were directed at Kimberly Winter's burping act.

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She had originally been expected to start singing as an ABBA track played in the background. But she let out an almighty burp into the microphone, leaving viewers feeling sick.

Simon Cowell told her: "We weren't expecting that, did you really fly in from America to burp at me? Really? It was so stupid, it was brilliant, really, that's a compliment."

Amanda Holden joined in, burping into her own microphone, but Alesha and Bruno immediately hit their red buzzers and exited their chairs. Alesha couldn't hide her disgust, exclaiming: "I'm out of here, I'm out of here!"

Bruno told Amanda: "I'm bitterly disappointed, no, no, no!" While Bruno later changed his mind, awarding Kimberly Winter a yes along with Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell, Alesha held firm with her 'no'. Despite Alesha's opinion, Kimberly forged ahead to the next round with three yes votes.

Viewers blasted the act on Britain's Got Talent's official Instagram page. "Nothing was entertaining about that…," one wrote. "How ridiculous that they voted her through. It was disgusting and certainly not talent," a second commented.

"Literally made me feel sick! My 10 year old however was in hysterics!" another said. While someone who was actually in the audience for the audition commented: "I was in the audience it was disgusting! Not many of us liked it!"

"Worse thing about BGT tonight," another fan added.