Now that the stardust has settled, I think we can all agree that the wrong act won this year’s Britain’s Got Talent final.
That’s nothing against vibrant West End performer Sydnie Christmas, who had been the firm favorite since the first weekend of auditions – and who was in no way hindered that evening by either the plum spot at the end of the show or the crowd-pleasing Bring- it-Home song Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
We must wish her all the best for the future, and I’m pleased to be able to call her publicly by the full name that Simon Cowell almost certainly uses privately: Sydnie Cover Versions Album Out In Time For Christmas.
Little Miss Christmas wasn’t the most surprising twist of the evening, however.
That title belonged to a magical act. No, not Jack Rhodes, although he was clearly the standout variety performer of the evening. And neither does Trixy, although we have to commend him for pulling off a daring stunt that many today thought impossible: landing Peter Andre a guest spot on a primetime entertainment show.
No, the real magicians of the evening were the four amateur illusionists who sat behind that worn judges’ desk and gave us a running commentary on the proceedings. If we had been able to vote for their well-oiled act, the result would have been even more of a landslide.
The main focus of their jiggery-pokery was a group effort to make the viewing audience believe that the outcome was not a foregone conclusion. (Narrator’s voice: “It was basically a done deal. Sydnie secured almost a third of all votes cast.”)
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This often involved a concerted effort to convince us that we were watching the greatest spectacle in the 17-year history of this once mighty TV show. To be fair to Simon Cowell, he did say it was “the best final I can honestly remember”, which at least gave him the chance that he simply couldn’t remember the other finals.
However, that’s the only leeway I’m willing to give him. Not least because towards the end of the evening he attempted his most daring trick yet. With the most serious face a man in new glasses could ever put on, Simon announced, “I don’t think a single act was professional tonight.”
In his defense, he seemed to realize he had gone too far, and muttered a hasty caveat: “They all have day jobs, too.”
Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and, I suspect, tea had already been spewed into living rooms across the country.
Come on, Simon. To continue to suggest that the likes of Sydnie, opera singer Innocent Masuku, Double Dutch group Haribow and acrobatic Taekwondo group Ssaulabi had just walked into the street to a warm welcome was downright ridiculous and showed total disregard for both the show and the audience.
It was a bit like someone saying that Amanda Holden can’t be called a professional talent show judge because she also plays CDs every day on Heart FM. It comes to something when the only truly honest assessment of the performances that evening is given by one of the acts themselves.
If you hadn’t already respected neurodiverse comedian Alex Mitchell for having the balls to be on that stage in the first place, you would certainly have applauded the way he cut through all the OTT, pre-arranged claptrap to give us a fair verdict. that actually matched what we had just seen with our own eyes. “I wasn’t very happy with tonight,” he told a contractually stunned Ant & Dec. “It wasn’t great.”
If only the judges could take a leaf out of Alex’s book, maybe this show would be less of a chore in the future.
However, the chance of that happening is small. Simon and ITV appear to have adopted the ‘what we own, we own’ policy. The ratings will never be as great as they were in the good old days, when the show was truly breathtaking and unmissable, but numbers-wise it’s doing well by modern standards, so why rock the boat?
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I get it. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. What I don’t understand is this growing rumor that ITV is seriously considering renewing the show next year to fill the gap left by the recently – and deservedly – axed Saturday Night Takeaway.
Eh? Even the most brainwashed viewer will accept that there is barely enough talent available to maintain the current paper-thin format. How the hell are they suddenly going to find enough to fill another seven weeks of airtime?
It shows a woeful lack of imagination on ITV’s part, and is disturbingly reminiscent of the network’s response to the loss of The Jeremy Kyle Show from the daytime block. It simply expanded Lorraine and This Morning to fill the gap – and look how that turned out.
Of course, we can all guess how Simon will fill in the extra hours on Britain’s Got Talent. With more talent that doesn’t come from Britain.
That’s his decision. I just hope that while he’s busy counting all those great YouTube views from the likes of Ghana, South Korea, America and Japan, he’ll at least acknowledge that he’s moving the show further and further away from what it made such a big hit in the first episode. place.
Brave British no-hopers like Susan Boyle and Paul Potts walk in from the wilderness and blow everyone away.
That’s the kind of magic we really want to see on BGT, Simon.