I think a major problem with the series this year was the fact that there were at least 3 acts in the final who are already having successful careers, namely:

Steve Hewlett:
Been in the business for 21 years according to his website.

Appeared in front of the royal family already having performed in front of Kate and William (his site even has a positive comment about his act from William)

Appeared at the London Palladium and in several panto's

Described on his site as one of the busiest vent acts in the UK

On tour this year in the 'Best of British Variety show'


Francine Lewis

Already had a very successful career in the 90s

Since making her return to the business last year, appeared on C4 and in 'WAGS: The Musical'

Attraction

Already appeared in front of the Queen having their own segment in the Olympic Opening Ceremony watched by nearly 900m people.

It's not really a level playing field is it when these kind of performers are up against children and other acts who are looking for their first big chance in the business.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems is the fact we don't have proper variety shows on telly aside from BGT.

Of cause they should, the prize isn't like the X Factor where you get a recording contract.
It's £250,000 and a slot at the royal variety which they really need to find the best talent. I don't know why you think the should get rid of the talent just to have inexperienced children with fewer years of practice win. They children can have their time on stage but you can't wipe out the rest.
America's Got Talent prize includes a headline show in Las Vegas, I'm not sure how you could give that to inexperienced children.

I'm not actually sure Attraction have performed in front of the Queen at the London Olympic Opening Ceremony as you say. All I can find on the internet is they did something for their own Hungarian Olympians swearing in ceremony in Budapest. Natalie Holt egg thrower performed at the London closing ceremony.

I know its all been said before and all over these threads, but surely a good first step would be to set a sensible lower age limit, say, for the sake of argument 16.

This would eliminate any truly juvenile 'cute' act to the relief of almost everyone except their own families and it would allow the more 'mature' ones a few years to consolidate their talent, whatever it may be.

One example.

Holding back Jack the 'comedian' for a couple of years could have been a good thing because he would undoubtedly have been more confident, more resilient and so on by the age of 16 and he would have been judged in an 'adult' context without the perceptions, justified or otherwise that he was 'only a kid' and/or that he had 'a condition'.

Allowing the more 'mature' new talent to perform in a show where there are also some established 'acts' would be an excellent preparation for them in their own careers - they would see how it can be done and they will see that it really is down to 'talent'. Not cuteness. Not pity. Not sympathy.

Simply - talent.

But if you think about it, not many people would have heard of those acts if they hadn't gone on BGT. There's a difference between them auditioning, and someone who has gotten a #1 single for example auditioning. They shouldn't be restricted from such a large platform. Their careers are only going to be helped by BGT.

How on earth do you define "established"? It's such a vague term, not to mention it'd vary depending on the act. E.g. even a singer with a number one song wouldn't really be regarded as established, given the fickleness of the charts.

I think it wouldn't be so bad if they were genuinely open auditions.

But they're not really open auditions if some acts are actually invited to take part by the show itself.
It makes it less of a competition and more just like another gig for established acts which acts as a further vehicle for them.

I agree OP, it makes a mockery of the competition to have professional competing .

We could have a final consisting of George Michael, Stones, Leona Lewis and Boy George .

I was going to say pretty much the same thing.

Not very likely as none of those mentioned ever auditioned to be in BGT