Paul O’ Grady has "no regrets" about his decision to decline an offer to be a judge on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
The ‘For the Love of Dogs’ presenter is not fan of the format of the ITV talent show and has revealed he snubbed Simon Cowell’s invitation to sit on the panel of the programme, long before it started in June 2007, because he thinks he would have got "bored" on it.
He said: "I have no regrets about turning it down. I would get bored if I was a judge on it. The show is not about what you are doing on stage. It’s about your history and whether you have got a sob story or not."
When asked if he’d be interested in taking Ant & Dec’s hosting job, he said: "Would I sh**e!"
Paul does now think ‘BGT’ – currently judged by Cowell, David Walliams, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon – is a great show, but he wouldn’t "touch it with a barge pole" if he was starting his career as a comedian now because he thinks the series focuses more on people’s sob stories rather than their talent and also he has way too many skeletons in his closest to withstand the scrutiny of the process.
The 60-year-old star – who shot to fame as drag act Lily Savage -told The Sun newspaper: "It’s a great show with all those eccentrics. But I would not go on it if I was starting off today.
I would not touch it with a barge pole. You have to have a sob story. And I haven’t got skeletons in my closet, I’ve got cemeteries!"
Paul O’ Grady has ‘ no regrets’ about snubbing Britain’s Got Talent
