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David Walliams was 'recorded on the TOILET after BGT bosses secretly left microphone on' bombshell court docs claim | The Sun

DAVID Walliams was recorded on the toilet after Britain's Got Talent bosses secretly left his microphone on, bombshell court documents claim.

The telly star, 52, has now lodged a £10million High Court claim against the makers of the hit ITV show.



The Sun exclusively revealed yesterday Walliams was taking the bosses to court after he suffered suicidal thoughts when he was axed from Britain's Got Talent.

The 52-year-old was sacked from the hit show last year after jibes he made about contestants were leaked.

The High Court writ says Walliams was recorded on by Fremantle Media, and he claimed they “recorded, transcribed and retained” private conversations for ten years.

And he claims fellow judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon were monitored the same way by production staff.

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In a 21-page legal document Walliam's lawyers say: “The Claimant (Walliams) now understands that, unknown to him at the time, his microphone was kept on and recording throughout the whole filming day, including breaks, ­during his whole tenure as a judge on the show.”

He says this even happened when he went to the toilet.

Walliams' claim alleges Fremantle “produced and retained transcripts of the audio recordings of everything he said during that time, including the private information that had no relevance to production of the show”.

Walliams complains some of the recorded material was private — including heart-to-hearts with Alesha about his marriage, divorce, spending sprees, sex life, ­relationships and his physical and mental health.

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They also covered the funnyman’s political views, reasons behind his atheism and family disputes, his battle with food addiction, weight problems, his opinions of other celebrities and even the impact of his father’s death.

Walliams says he had no idea of the extent of the surveillance until his “disrespectful” remarks about two hopefuls were leaked to The Guardian, he claims, and published on November 10 last year.

The newspaper said it had obtained and reviewed “transcripts of the judges’ comments for three days” at the London Palladium in January 2020.

Walliams called one man a “c***” three times and said of a woman: “She thinks you want to f*** her, but you don’t.”

He apologised at the time and insisted the comments were taken from ­“private conversations” not intended to be shared.

But an offer to remain on the judges panel for this year’s show was withdrawn on December 14 and he was later replaced by ex-Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli.

Walliams, who says he has ­suffered suicidal thoughts after being cancelled from public life, is seeking £1m he stood to get from the prime-time ITV show, plus £1.7m in lost earnings from the last year.

He wants an additional £3.4m covering future losses over at least the next two years, taking the total to £6.1m.

In addition he is seeking further unspecified damages for psychiatric harm, distress and upset and the loss of control over his private information and legal costs — which sources say could bring the total up to as much as £10m.

Walliams' earnings plummeted from £3.7m in 2022 to just £101,800 in the first five months of this year, the papers reveal.

He said in that time he has received only one new work booking, having “catastrophic results for his reputation and career”.

Last night lawyers for Walliams declined to comment.

Fremantle said: “We had a long and productive relationship with David and so are surprised and saddened by this legal action.

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“For our part, we remain available and open to dialogue to resolve this matter amicably.

“However, in the interim, we will examine the various allegations and are prepared to robustly defend ourselves if necessary.”


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