‘Britain’s Got Talent’ and ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ are set for an Autumn ratings battle.
The ITV talent search show will go head-to-head with its rival BBC dance show when ‘BGT’ airs its live semi-finals in September, just as ‘Strictly’ launches its new series.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre TV column: "Both are hugely popular and this will split the audience if they are on at the same time.
"Both the ‘Strictly’ launch show and the first proper dancing episode both air in September.
"But that’s when Simon Cowell and the ‘BGT’ producers are planning on airing the semi-finals now they have their line-up locked in.
"They could try and air the semi-finals across a full week, but the final episode will likely clash with ‘Strictly’."
‘BGT’s live semi-finals have been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to the clash with ‘Strictly’.
Judge Amanda Holden previously she and her fellow judges, Simon, David Walliams, and Alesha Dixon, have been given an Autumn date for filming to resume.
However, that will depend on what, if any, social distancing guidelines are still in place because they don’t want to go ahead without a live audience.
She explained: "All of the main judges have been given a date to hold in early autumn to see if it works live.
"But we would never do it without an audience because we’ve always said the British public is the fifth judge.
"So we can’t do it without them – it would be no fun without them! We’ll see what happens, but we are planning to do it this year."