David Walliams has reportedly quit Britain's Got Talent after ten years on the judging panel.
While the comedian, 51, is yet to formally make a statement, a source told The Sun, 'He hasn’t taken the decision lightly, but it just feels like time to move on.
'His team have quietly been having conversations over the past few days where it has been made clear that David is readying himself to step down – and then producers will start to think about who might replace him.'
An additional source claimed David wanted to 'leave on a high after a wonderful time', but a spokesperson for Britain's Got Talent said, 'It’s still very much up in the air at the moment on whether David is going to take part in next year’s show. No decision, though, has been made as yet.'
The news comes shortly after David apologised for making 'disrespectful comments' about contestants during auditions for the ITV show in 2020, held at the London Palladium.
In a leaked transcript obtained by The Guardian, the TV personality - who starred on the BGT panel alongside Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden - referred to one older contestant as a 'c***', while saying of another, 'She thinks you want to f**k her, but you don’t.'
The comments were picked up by microphones used to capture conversations between the judges when they were sat at their desks. The recordings are said to have been made for possible broadcast on the show or other spin-off versions, whereby candid comments from the judges between auditions are often featured.
In a statement, David said, 'I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain’s Got Talent in 2020. These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry.'
Judging by conversations on Twitter, the latest news has left a question mark over the future of Britain's Got Talent as a whole.
'I expect the show is going to be canned,' one user wrote. Another called 'these talent shows' 'way past their sell-by date', whilst a third went so far as to say, 'Never mind axing David Walliams, what they really need to do is axe Britain's Got Talent.'
Amanda was quizzed on Monday about David's behaviour and the future of Britain's Got Talent.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, the judge said, 'I would like to see the judging panel look like it did before. I think we're a great team, we're a family.'
When asked directly if she was 'Team David', she replied, 'Of course I'm Team David.'