Ant and Dec have revealed that they’ve been so impressed with this year’s Britain’s Got Talent acts that they have already pushed their golden buzzer.

The ITV show’s hosts and returning four judges – Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon – attended the auditions for the ninth series of the ITV talent show when they began in Edinburgh on January 19, with David dressing in a kilt for the occasion.

Simon Cowell jokingly lifts David Walliams' kilt at the BGT auditions
David Walliams wore a kilt to the first day of auditions (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

And it seems that the hosting duo have already used their golden button option, which sends acts straight through to the live rounds, thus bypassing the other elimination stages.

Ant said: “Talent was good, really good. We’ve pushed our golden buzzer already. We got in there early. They’re really good acts, I reckon they’re finalists.”

His co-host Dec added: “Last year, we waited till the last session of the last day to push our golden buzzer. We weren’t getting caught out with that again so we pushed it in the first session of the first day.

“We’ve got that out of the way. But they’re a great act and we’ve got high hopes for them. It’s a really good level in Edinburgh and it’s Manchester next, so we’re very excited. We think it’s going to be another good year.”

The 39-year-old presenter said it has been “good” to see all the judges back again.

Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon pose together
All four judges are returning to the talent show (ITV/Press Association Images)

“It’s good to have a really steady judging panel as well. The judging panel have come back, they’ve all hit the ground running,” he continued. “It feels like it’s going to be a really good year.”

Both Amanda and Alesha agreed that it was a “brilliant” first day of auditions.

Alesha said: “Auditions are going fantastically well. We kicked off in Edinburgh and it was a wonderful start. We’ve seen some great acts already and we’re in for another rollercoaster ride.”

The new series of Britain’s Got Talent returns to ITV later this year.