Presenter, pop star and children’s author Alesha Dixon tells us she feels “so lucky” to be back on the Britain’s Got Talent judging panel for the 13th year in a row. As we sit down for an exclusive chat with Alesha, fresh from the talent show’s first round of auditions in Blackpool, she says, “I’m on a bit of a comedown from them. It’s always an intense but amazing week, so today I’m resting up.”
It may only be one week into filming, but it’s already clear that the magic of the ITV talent show, which airs next February, is still shining bright. Alesha, 46, is confident she’s already seen plenty of rising stars in the mix. “I think it’s proven that we never run out of talent. But every year you have, I don’t want to say nervousness, but you go into each season thinking, ‘Are we gonna be able to beat the talent that we had last time?’
"Then it blows my mind, the number of incredible people who walk through the door and are not only super talented but do things that surprise you or show you things you’ve never seen before. There’s not a day where I don’t sit there on that panel and just think, ‘Wow, this is one of the best jobs in the world.’ I feel so lucky – I get to sit there, laugh and have fun. It brings so much joy.”
Alesha says the atmosphere at the Blackpool auditions has been fantastic. “There’s something about the audience the further north you go – they just get really loud, really crazy. They loved it and made us feel really welcome. “We’re only a few auditions in and I’m already confident I’ve seen quite a few people who could win the show. And we’ve still got the London auditions in January, so there’s so much more talent to see.”
After working together for more than a decade, Alesha regards fellow judges Amanda Holden and BGT creator Simon Cowell as “family” and says they have a tight-knit bond. “We’re very close. Actually, I consider Simon and Amanda family now. Our children hang out together and we see each other outside of the show. Not as often as we’d like because everybody’s busy, but we truly care about each other as friends. There’s a genuine love and friendship there that has built over the years and I cherish that.
“We’re very, very lucky and I often feel that because it is a potluck with chemistry — you never know who you’re going to vibe with. As somebody who has worked in the industry for a long time, I do know that sometimes you can appear on screen to be friendly with somebody, but that might not be the case behind the scenes. But with us, there is a genuine friendship between all the families and it’s lovely. We call ourselves the BGT dysfunctional family!”
Last year, the panel introduced a new judge, gregarious Italian Bruno Tonioli, who has injected a fresh dose of enthusiasm into the show. Admitting that the former Strictly Come Dancing judge can get a little “excited” when it comes to hitting the show’s famous golden buzzer, Alesha says she, Simon and Amanda gave him a “warning” before the auditions began, which fell on deaf ears.
“We had a funny conversation with Bruno in the judges’ room before the first session because he gets really, really excited. We were like, ‘You might not want to press your golden buzzer in the first four acts of the day. Why don’t you take your time and, you know, just... feel it out.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’ and then literally pressed his golden buzzer on the fourth act.”
Adding that she finds Bruno’s excitement endearing, Alesha says, “That’s what I love about him, he’s just so authentic. In the moment he’s like, ‘When I feel it, I feel it and if I have to do it, I have to do it.’ It was a very funny moment and in classic Bruno style, he just goes free. He’s so passionate and I love it.”
Away from the small screen, Alesha treasures family time with her husband of seven years, Azuka Ononye, 43, and their daughters Azura, 11, and Anaya, five. “I like to just hang out with my family on down days. I’ll have a nice glass of red wine and watch a good show,” she says. “Or I like to dance and go out to party, it depends what mood I’m in. But generally, anything that involves music and the people I love most is what I do to take time for myself.”
When it comes to parenting, Alesha says she and Azuka are passionate about encouraging their children to dream big. Reflecting on how her own upbringing has shaped the mother she is, Alesha explains, “I remember, growing up, my mum always told me to do whatever makes me happy and to follow my passions. My dad was very nervous about me stepping into the creative industries and would have preferred me to be an accountant or a lawyer — in his opinion, a more sensible job. I understand where that fear comes from, but I think this generation now, how we talk to our kids, is almost like, you can do anything.
“When our children sit down and play a computer game, for example, we’re the kind of parents who say, ‘You know, you can create the computer games that you play,’ and try to open their minds up to think outside the box. It’s about telling your kids, ‘You can be anything — you’re capable of anything.’”
It’s this same drive that has led Alesha to join the T-team, a group of celebrities who are championing T-levels as an exciting new qualification for young people. T-levels are a vocational alternative to A-levels, with an emphasis on practical study in a creative industry, rather than just in the classroom.
Alesha is an advocate for the media, broadcast and production T-level, and explains, “If I turned the clock back and went back to school and was considering my options, I think I would’ve loved something like this. I love the idea of coming out of the classroom and stepping into the real world. The best way to learn a job is by doing it.”
Clearly enthusiastic about young people and their futures, Alesha is keen to broaden the scope for them to enter the creative industries. “The main thing about this is giving people options because we’re not all as academic as each other. Some people benefit more from being hands-on. Having a T-level in something like media means parents can be more comfortable with their children going into these creative careers and having a bona fide route to do it.”
Following her own creative passions as a teen, Alesha began her career in the early 2000s as a member of R&B girl group Mis-Teeq, before going on to become a solo artist — and winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2007. So does Alesha have any other TV ambitions left on her bucket list? “I actually think I’ve done them all,” she says. “When I was young, I used to watch Strictly Come Dancing and say, ‘That’s the only one I want to do,’ and I did. But I’d like to do more shows in the US. I did America’s Got Talent with Simon and that was good fun, so something like that,” she says.
As a successful star in both music and TV, are there any secrets to Alesha’s enduring success? “I try to just be myself all the time,” she says. “People say when they meet me, ‘Oh, you’re just the same as when I see you on TV.’ I can’t pretend to be something I’m not — so I hope I’m authentic. I try to just be real.”
Alesha Dixon is hailing T-levels as a game-changing qualification and is championing the new media, broadcast and production T-level, which was launched across England in September
