The sixth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 24 March to 12 May 2012. The sixth series saw Simon Cowell resume a full commitment to the programme following the previous series, yet neither David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre returned to take part in the new series, leading to them being replaced by Alesha Dixon and David Walliams. Because of her pregnancy during filming of the auditions, Amanda Holden was required to miss a number of sessions, leading to producers asking Carmen Electra to step in as a guest judge in her place. The sixth series of the programme saw a full commitment of incorporating a panel of four judges throughout every stage of the competition. The prize money offered by Britain's Got Talent was increased to £500,000 for this series only, the highest amount offered in the programme's history. In addition, the format of the programme saw a number of changes, including nine semi-finalists in each semi-final, the establishment of a Wildcard format similar to that used in America's Got Talent - in which the judges could appoint a single place in the final to any eliminated semi-finalist they favoured the most - and the incorporation of a mobile voting app, which functioned differently to the system used on The X Factor. The sixth series was won by dancing dog act Ashleigh and Pudsey and finishing in first place and opera duo Jonathan and Charlotte finishing in second place; both final two along with many of the semi-finalists that took part in the competition were considered some of the best in the programme's history by 2012. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 10.6 million viewers. The programme faced controversy concerning two auditions and a mishap with the new voting system, of which Ofcom had to investigate ITV's handling in regards to two of these incidents that viewers raised complaints against. Series overview Following open auditions held the previous year, the Judges' auditions were held during January and February 2012, within Manchester, Blackpool, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Like the previous series, a number of acts were invited to audition between 6 and 22 January, after being found via their videos on YouTube. Twenty-five participants from this were picked by the producers and revealed by Britain's Got More Talent host Stephen Mulhern via a live YouTube stream from backstage at the London