Britain’s Got Talent hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have dished up some secrets from the upcoming series – including why it took longer to film than usual.

The ITV talent show returns for its 17th series on Saturday night, and the presenting duo, both 48, will once again be hosting the extravaganza.

The new series also sees the return of fellow judge Bruno Tonioli, who joined the show last year following the exit of David Walliams.

Bruno brought a playful but chaotic feel to the show, memorably pressing his golden buzzer more than once – claiming he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to.

Later in the series, Simon followed suit and also pressed his golden buzzer again, sending a total of seven golden buzzer acts to the semi-final.

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Britain’s Got Talent hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have dished up some secrets from the upcoming series – including why it took longer to film than usual

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The ITV talent show returns for its 17th series on Saturday night, and the presenting duo, both 48, will once again be hosting the extravaganza (pictured Simon Cowell)

This year, it has already been revealed that there will be a total of nine golden buzzer moments – marking the most the show has ever seen.

The hosts revealed this meant that the show took longer to film because the judges were ‘more chaotic’ than ever.

Discussing their antics, Dec said: ‘They’ve been even more badly behaved than before.

Ant added: ‘It’s not just the pressing of the Golden Buzzers numerous times, they’ve also played tricks on us.

‘Normally it’s us pranking the judges, but the tables have been turned this year and we weren’t expecting that. Naughty judges!’

They revealed that because of several rule breaks and generally anarchy, the show is taking longer to film.

Dec explained: ‘Everything takes a little bit longer to film now, because the judges have been so mischievous this year. There is definitely a sense of chaos, but they seem to be having a nice time.

Ant said: ‘We always liken this show to The Muppet Show, you know where you’ve got a show going on but there’s chaos backstage. There’s chaos backstage, chaos out the front, and chaos onstage… it’s just chaotic.’

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This year, it has already been revealed that there will be a total of nine golden buzzer moments – marking the most the show has ever seen (pictured Amanda Holden)

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The hosts revealed this meant that the show took longer to film because the judges were ‘more chaotic’ than ever (pictured Ant and Dec pressing their golden buzzer)

Ant and Dec said their own Golden Buzzer act is something the audiences have ‘never seen before’ as they admitted they believe they could go all the way.

Despite most of the judges embracing the chaos, Alesha admitted that she has stuck to only pressing her golden buzzer once.

She explained that she felt pressing it more than once ‘takes away’ from the original act you have vouched for.

Alesha said: ‘I quite like following rules, which is very ironic. I’m very rebellious in my nature, but I do like a bit of structure. I only pressed my golden buzzer once because for me personally, it gives more value to the act that I’ve pressed it for.’

Simon teased that the news series is as exciting as ever and will have elements never seen before in previous series.

The music mogul and former X Factor boss admitted he is conscious of the show feeling ‘stale’ and is keen to always keep it feeling fresh.

He said: ‘It’s got a heart, great stories, things we’d never seen before, which is important because you don’t want to just keep repeating the same thing year on year. So overall, I couldn’t be happier.’

While there are going to be nine golden buzzers this year, Simon said there were ‘easily’ another 17 acts that deserved the accolade.

He explained: ‘I love that there aren’t any rules on the show anymore. It is kind of like being back at school, because the teachers keep coming in saying, ‘You know, can we try and keep the golden buzzers down?’

‘And they know we’ve got absolutely no intention whatsoever of doing that. I keep saying, ‘Look, if something happens or the audience in particular are telling us, then we kind of have to’.

‘I think they secretly love when it happens, but they have to try and keep us in check! But I don’t think it matters.

‘I mean, we don’t want to get to the point where you’ve got 20 golden buzzer acts, but I think eight or nine is fine, that’s one an episode and in one episode you’ll see two. I don’t see that as a bad thing.’