Amanda Holden: Britain’s Got Talent viewers rage over ‘totally staged’ golden buzzer moment

Amanda Holden has been forced to respond to ‘fix’ claims after pressing her golden buzzer on this weekend’s instalment of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent. The moment came during 11-year-old Olivia Lynes’ audition.

Olivia  sang a memorable rendition of Defying Gravity, from the Broadway musical Wicked. relatives looked on from backstage as they held back tears of joy whilst watching with Ant and Dec.

Amanda, 52, from Portsmouth, then dramatically smashed down on her golden buzzer once the performance was finished.After the buzzer was pressed, golden confetti rained down on Olivia, who appeared completely taken aback by the reaction to her performance.

Amanda Holden stood and cheered whilst it all unfolded.

However, fans have since scolded the Portsmouth-born presenter for staging the moment entirely. This is because Olivia was personally invited to audition by Amanda herself.

Viewers took to social media to express their frustration. One Twitter user said: “Totally staged so many other talents should of got the golden buzzer,the male choir,the sword act,don’t get me wrong she can sing but this was all a set up”.

Another commended Olivia’s performance, but still pointed out the evident bias from Holden, writing: “Lovely as it was, she was bloody good - I’m not sure it sits right that AH was there to get her to audition and then gets her golden buzzer!?”A third added: “Staged what a fix”.

Amanda has since responded to the backlash, claiming that she had no idea Olivia was such a talented singer before inviting her to audition.

She told MailOnline: “When I met her I had no idea if she could sing, and then was absolutely blown away by her performance.And it’s just so typical of what I would press my buzzer for. I was almost like, "Oh my god. It’s going to have to be this because I love it. She is amazing."”

The BGT judge  revealed that Olivia was going to see Matilda while Amanda was in the box office. She invited the 11-year-old to audition for Britain’s Got Talent after being told by Olivia’s mother and grandmother that “she had the most amazing singing voice.”