Simon Cowell has seemed to disappear during the closing moments of a magic trick on Britain’s Got Talent.
The ITV talent show returned on Saturday, with judges Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli, and presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
The last act, Magicians Assemble, made up of former Britain’s Got Talent stars Ben Hart, Colin Cloud and Elizabeth The Haunting, who appeared on past editions of the series, claimed they have arrived from the future.
Finishing each other’s sentences, the trio told the judges and audience in Manchester that they “found a journal” where they can enter “someone’s memory” during the episode.
They then performed tricks such as turning liquid into sand, before the substance began streaming on to the stage – and teenage magician and 2020 Britain’s Got Talent finalist Aidan McCann was pulled through to join the other illusionists.
Aidan shaved Ben’s hair off before the audience, and the number which was revealed was the same as the one the judges had made during dice earlier.
Inviting Cowell on stage was Colin, who reassured him he was “completely safe” as he put a blindfold on him.
Ben then threw a sandglass and Simon was gone with bits of confetti paper streams left in his place.
Holden and Tonioli asked “where is Simon?” before Cowell’s voice was heard posing a similar question, and Sunday’s episode was teased.
Elsewhere, property manager Kimberley Cross, 61, did not wow all the judges with her performance of Pink’s Get The Party Started while wearing a gold cape and a glittery tiara, which had sparks shooting out.
Tonioli disagreed, saying: “It was so bad that I loved it, it’s yes from me.”
Robert Statham, 59, from Derby, did a rap based on his profession as a librarian – which included him saying “everybody in the house shush” and doing a book drop, instead of a mic drop moment.
“I quite enjoyed it but I don’t know if I want to hear it again,” Dixon said.
As Donnelly mimed pleading, Robert got her vote and he made it through to the next stage.
Also going through to the next round was Kevin Finn, 30, a comedian originally from Canada and living in Warrington, who made jokes about Tesco and mimicked UK accents, and charity fundraiser Ace Clurk, 29, who was stopped halfway through his singing by Cowell.
After Ace was asked to swap his original song for Lovely by Billie Eilish, the crowd was emotional with Holden saying his “vocal range was insane”.
Shadow artist and illusionist Matteo Fraziano, 22, from Rome, Italy, who created the silhouettes of Elvis Presley, Eminem, and ET The Extra-Terrestrial with his hands, and recorder playing drag queen Chantaaaal, 33, who sang Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, also made it.
The drag queen used their costume to reference Dion’s song, which was on the soundtrack of Titanic, by turning themselves into the destroyed ship and iceberg.
Ukrainian married couple and roller-skaters Vlada Kamyshnikova and Yevhenii Yemelianenko, known as Stardust, had previously been Golden buzzer winners on Lithuania Got Talent and finalists on Ukraine’s Got Talent.
On a trampoline, Yemelianenko flung Kamyshnikova around before launching into the air by hanging on to a pulley, while his partner had to hold on, while being flung around as sharks came out.
“This show is always about raising the levels every single year and I’m going to say it, you did and it was insane,” Holden said.
They earned a golden buzzer, which means the duo go through to the semi-finals, from Cowell, who said it was “fantastic” and told them “thank you so much”.
Britain’s Got Talent returns on Sunday at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.