A BASINGSTOKE magician, who was buzzed off the audition stage for Britain’s Got Talent, has criticised the judges for not putting him through.

Alex Lodge appeared on last Saturday night’s show as one in a series of magicians who tried, but failed, to impress the celebrity judges – Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon.

The 29-year-old former Testbourne Community School pupil was seen levitating a table over presenter Declan Donnelly’s head to the tune of You Raise Me Up.

But the judging panel looked unimpressed, and pressed their buzzers signalling that they wanted him to stop.

Alex, who lives in Chineham, questioned the judges as to what sort of magic act they would like to see, and told The Gazette afterwards: “The judges really are not qualified to judge a magician and illusionist. They have no idea what they are looking for – it is a complete nightmare of a show.”

It was the third time Alex has auditioned for the ITV show. He said: “I believe I have what it takes to be on BGT, but the judges could not see it on the day.”

Despite not being put through to the semi-finals, and receiving negative comments from the judges, Alex has no regrets about going on the show – and he has not ruled out auditioning again.

He added: “I like some of the footage they showed, but I think they were having a laugh on my behalf.”

Following Alex’s audition, the judges did put through Canadian magician Darcy Oake, who performed an illusionist act with doves.

Alex, who works as an entertainer at a theme park and zoo, admitted his act was perhaps not strong enough in comparison, adding: “Watching it back, my performance was not great and I know I could do better.”

But he added: “I wanted to do a big flashy illusion but the producers told me to save it for the finals.”

He also criticised BGT for putting through acts not from Britain. He said: “Putting a Canadian act into the semi-finals is not a representation of British talent, and I could do that dove act within a week because I used to do dove magic.”

After his audition was shown on television, Alex received some negative feedback from Twitter users.

He said: “I think people in Britain need to be nicer to each other, and if you’ve got something to say online, then make sure you can say it to my face.”