Amanda Holden looks forward to a decade in the BGT hot seat

AMANDA HOLDEN has designs on a decade in her Britain’s Got Talent hot seat.

The 44-year-old mum-of-two is the only ever-present on the judging panel since the show debuted in 2007.

And she’s enjoying her ninth year on the show despite being dogged by rumours since day one that she’s about to collect her P45 from Simon Cowell.

“I would love to make it 10 then call it a day. Ten years is an amazing feat,” says Amanda, who’s joined as a judge once more by Cowell, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon.

“I want a nice big clock when I leave and some holiday in the sunshine. And a retirement package!

“I’m just glad to be asked back because it’s not a given.

“As someone who has covered almost every genre in this business, I still feel qualified to be here, though.

“Simon Cowell is the king of reinvention, and he’s perfectly entitled to change the judging panel.

“If they plan to get rid of me, I just need to be forewarned so I can change Simon’s mind.

“How would I do that? Probably blackmail, threats and, you know, slowly poisoning him little things like that!

“I’d turn Britain’s Got Talent into Game Of Thrones I’ll be back next year, don’t you worry about that.

“I know so much about Simon but I like to count myself as a friend of his and I’m very loyal.

“I’d never want to upset him because as much as he has this gruff exterior, he’s I believe soft inside, so I’d never hurt him.

“If I did go, I would be upset but I wouldn’t be heartbroken because I have so many other things happening as well, but it’s my favourite job.”

Cowell says there are only four talent shows that will still be with us for years to come BGT, The X Factor, Strictly and The Voice.

And Amanda thinks the show’s longevity is because “the whole family” can watch it.

“My nan voted last year! I didn’t know she even knew how to pick up a phone and vote. That’s brilliant.

“I don’t think the show has had its day at all.

“I always get told off by the producers and Simon for saying it but I think BGT is a better show than X Factor, purely because it’s got variety.

“More than ever, people are thinking outside the box. It must be hard to be a judge on a show where there are only singers. I’d run out of things to say.

“Mind you, this year, I think Alesha and I want to cause more trouble. We want to be controversial, maybe not about the acts, maybe more about the people sat next to us!”

This series is the second in which the judges can press the Golden Buzzer, which puts acts straight through to the live semi-finals.

They can use it only once a series and Amanda says: “For me, it’s like when you fall in love for the first time.

“You just know it, it’s right and your heart is never wrong about love and it feels the same for a Golden Buzzer.

“The minute I saw salsa sensations Paddy and Nico, I thought: ‘Golden Buzzer’. Straight away.

“It’s the atmosphere, it’s what you’re feeling. When you know, you know.”

One thing you wouldn’t get on The X Factor is an act like the dog that apparently hypnotised Simon.

“He kept saying to me: ‘I feel really tired’ and I said: ‘What, more than normal?’ because he gets a bit jet-lagged and he said ‘Yeah’ and just went to sleep on the desk,” she laughs.

“It was real because when he woke up, he had a bit of mascara, a bit of make-up smudged round his eyes.

“That ordinarily would be a problem but he didn’t care.

“His eyes were watering and he said: ‘I feel really strange’ and for the rest of the afternoon, he said yes to a number of acts that usually he wouldn’t have.

“But it’s funny. Even Alesha, when she looked into that dog’s eyes, said she felt weird! It was odd.”

Amanda, who’s also been hosting This Morning, found fame as an actress in Wild At Heart but since a stint in Shrek in the West End, her acting career’s on hold.

If she does hang up her buzzer after the next BGT, it would let her fulfil a longstanding ambition.

“I will go back to acting but only when I have time to stand in a field for 16 hours while they shoot a page of dialogue,” she says.

“The jobs I do allow me a lot of time to be with the family they’re done quickly and are financially amazing.

“I’ve performed at the Royal Variety but I still keep saying I want to be in The Archers.”