Has BGT abandoned up-and-coming stars?

EXTRAORDINARY people populate David Blaine Do Not Attempt - nutcases who eat steel nails, kiss venomous snakes or cake their faces in deadly scorpions.

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The Disney+ show feels like a to-do list for I'm A Celebrity. In episode one, magician and endurance artist Blaine met Brazilian street performers who leapt through hoops of fire, smashed coconuts with their foreheads or rammed knives up their nostrils.

One masochist forced pins under his fingernail and showered his backside with red hot sparks. It's not so much magic as a procession of daredevils with a death wish. All I could think was: Why waste your time entertaining crowds in the Rio favelas for pocket change when you could join Simon Cowell's carousel of travelling turns? Last weekend, South Korea's Eden Choi wowed the judges on Britain's Got (imported) Talent with his nifty skills, appearing to produce an endless stream of playing cards from his hands.

But tell us ITV, how could a semi-pro magician from Solihull hope to compete against an amazing established pro with multiple international awards? BGT ceased being an honest talent show many years ago, being content to fill air time with acts drawn from Tik Tok or the international variety circuit, and singers with heart-rending sob stories.

Apart from its shallowness and hopelessly naïve, puffed-up and underqualified judges, the constant fistpumping hysteria of this series would give an aspirin a migraine.