Britain's Got Talent / Mike Norman / 22 March 2012 /

The hit variety entertainment competition returns to our screens this weekend with the show's mogul Simon Cowell also back in action. It promises to be an exciting series says Mike Norman...

When you glance through the newspapers this morning and see pictures of a man with a pan on his head then only one of two things is possible. Either George Osborne is taking cover after announcing his latest Budget, or it means that Britain's Got Talent is about to return to our screens.

Thankfully for Osborne the latter is true in this case, though the return of Britain's biggest variety entertainment competition alone isn't the only reason to get excited this weekend.

That's because Mr Ego himself, Simon Cowell, returns to the hit ITV show in his usual arrogant judging slot.

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that last year's Britain's Got Talent, and The X Factor for that matter, definitely suffered because of Cowell's absence. But now he's back with a slightly re-vamped look to a show that can produce quite literally acts from the sublime to the absolute ridiculous.

Cowell will be joined by Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams on a new four-man judging panel as they attempt to find an act that Cowell can present to the Queen on the Royal Variety Show later in the year, and of course one that will make him his next fortune!

Betfair will introduce markets as soon they become appropriate. For example, during Series Three, immediately after her audition had aired, a market was introduced asking whether Susan Boyle would win the competition. Hundreds of thousands of pounds were traded, and of course, red-hot favourite Boyle - who subsequently went on to sell millions of albums worldwide - didn't win; that honour went to dance troupe Diversity.

And therein lies a big lesson. As with the X Factor, it's pretty easy to spot/predict acts that will have success after the show, but trying to second guess the British voting public isn't so easy.

So often we will settle for a quick fix and care little for what happens after the competition has finished. Series Four winners Spellbound are probably a good example of this. The gymnastic troupe were highly entertaining and produced some jaw-dropping routines, producing that feel good factor at the time. And they thoroughly deserved to win the competition.

My mistake (in not backing them to win) was forming an opinion at the time that they won't have huge success after the show, and therefore won't win Britain's Got Talent.

So the lesson is to just let yourself be entertained and don't over complicate matters by trying to predict who will become future stars; it's the present that matters most. We all knew that Boyle would sell millions of albums, but there was nothing in Diversity's or Spellbound's performances to suggest that they wouldn't be good enough to win on the night.

The search to find this year's Britain's Got Talent winner commences on Saturday night, on ITV at 8pm to be precise, and I'll be reviewing each audition show on a weekly basis, discussing the wonderful and whacky performances as well as bringing you those all important betting updates.

But we'll really crank it up once the live semi-finals get underway in approximately six weeks time. A total of 45 acts, nine in each semi-final, will perform live to the nation and Betfair will have a plethora of markets for us to get involved in. The challenge; to turn £100 into something more than a £100. All in a day's work really, or in this case, a week's work.

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