Carl Jones: Time to push the button on contrived talent shows

Just how many of the acts paraded before the fearsome foursome of judges have either been hand-picked, head-hunted, or gently cajoled by the production crew into filling in their application forms?

Worst still, how many are not quite as wet behind the ears as audiences might be led to believe, and are in fact semi-professionals well versed in the art of performing for the cameras?

We're now into the eighth series of BGT, and although it continues to be a stellar Saturday night success, there's definitely a subtle change in the show's ingredients.

Gone is the total innocence of those early years, when it was all about discovering unknown talent. People like Paul Potts who went from selling mobile phones to selling out opera houses, or Susan Boyle who was transformed from social outcast to social media sensation.

There's something different – dare I say slightly more calculated and cynical – about proceedings these days.

To be fair to the producers, their rules are crystal clear. Anyone can apply for BGT, whether they are professional or amateur, irrespective of past experience, and all contestants are auditioned on merit.

So why is it that Simon Cowell found himself defending acrobatic OAP Paddy Jones, formerly of Stourbridge, after it was revealed that she had already won a Spanish TV show with her act.

The salsa dancing 80-year-old and her partner Nico Espinosa wowed the judges and audience with their routine on the first show of the new series . . . so much so in fact that they were Amanda Holden's golden buzzer pick to go straight through to the live shows.

But when criticisms started to be aired about Paddy having already been a winner of a similar show, Tu Si Que Vales in Spain in 2009, Simon stuck up for her.

He reckons we shouldn't be knocking Paddy for appearing on a Spanish talent show, pointing out that she's British (which is more than can be said for last year's BGT winners) and wants the chance to perform in front of our royal family.

Fair point Simon. No rules have been broken, and the viewers will, in the end, decide. But it's not entirely in the spirit of the show's origins, is it? He's a smart cookie, and he'll know that only too well.

Perhaps the bubble has burst. Maybe, in the 13 years since Will Young won Pop Idol, we've reached saturation point. The beginning of the end of the road.

When rejects from one reality show are popping up quite routinely on another, it's a sure-fire sign that the talent pool's been drained dry.

This year's BGT, for example, includes a boy band made up of X Factor rejects, with five singers who all made it through to bootcamp before being binned off by Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh, Nicole Scherzinger and Sharon Osbourne.

Imagine how BGT will look if Simon, Amanda, David and Alesha go one step further by picking them for the live shows. It's tantamount to saying: "Well, you might not have been good enough for X Factor, but you'll do for us!"

Perhaps there are simply no longer enough wannabes to be shared among the overload of reality shows on our screens these days.

Because it doesn't matter whether you sing, dance, knit, cook, bake, renovate, or just dig your garden, you can be sure there's a TV producer out there desperate to showcase your skills.