Why Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions’ descended into a farce ...OPINION

For a few awful seconds, I had visions of the worst result seen in a vote by British people since June 23, 2016. Somehow, thanks to a group of people who had obviously left their brains behind at the entrance door to Wembley Arena, Stavros Flatley were in with a chance of winning Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions final.
Britain's Got Talent: The Champions winners Twist and Pulse (Ashley Glazebrook and Glen Murphy)Britain's Got Talent: The Champions winners Twist and Pulse (Ashley Glazebrook and Glen Murphy)
Britain's Got Talent: The Champions winners Twist and Pulse (Ashley Glazebrook and Glen Murphy)

Never mind that they had never won BGT in the first place – they didn’t even finish in the top three in 2009 – and never mind their performance lacked much talent, let alone star quality, compared to the acts who criminally had not been chosen instead of them.  Never mind they had improbably beaten the beautiful sand artistry of Kseniya Simonova into third place. And never mind that a group of people decided they were more worthy of being crowned champions than a young German girl who had trained dogs to perform fantastic tricks – including jumping over hurdles on their hind legs. No, never mind all that – they were there, unbelievably down to the last two with street dance act Twist and Pulse. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and the act that offered humour and talent won over that offering the same  ‘joke’ as they always had done. Show off your stomachs and goon it up for the audience. Yawn.

Call me a cynic, but the series was a farce – capped by Stavros Flatley’s appearance in the last two. Still, Simon Cowell no doubt enjoyed it, and that’s the main thing as the whole programme is designed to massage his ego.

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If it wasn’t, why spend so much air time promoting the fact he’d paid for a young girl from Merseyside to have a back operation that allowed Julia Carlisle to carry on doing what she loved?

Admirable, of course; but the re-telling of that story before they performed a few weeks back no doubt influenced the audience’s decision to send the MerseyGirls through to the grand final.

They were good, but they were another band that didn’t deserve to go through.  It should be about the talent, not the heart-warming story, the ‘journey’. If you want to get a decision wrong, there’s no better group of people to ask than the great British public …

 

Cowell’s so smug, but BGT is still far better than X-Factor

Call me a cynic, but surely a programme calling itself ‘BGT: The Champions’ needs to have all the previous champions taking part?

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It got worse when Cowell golden buzzer-ed Stavros Flatley through to the final, a miserable abuse of his privilege bearing in mind they didn’t deserve to be in a Champions-style set-up in the first place. Where were Diversity, Spelbound and Attraction? The latter, a Hungarian shadow theatre group, won BGT in 2013 with performances to take your breath away.  You can’t have a Champions format without all the Champions, can you? Of all the Saturday night entertainment shows that have dominated our screens in recent times, I’ve always preferred BGT. Give me that over Strictly, the miserable X-Factor or The Voice any day of the week.

No, I’ve absolutely no idea what this lot means either!

Finally this week, a mention of Danish black metal band ORM. I’ve no idea what they sound like, but I’m in awe of whoever writes their press releases.

Just read this about new album lr:

‘A record where the contrasts are bigger, the complex is more complex, the simple more simple and the melodies are poignant and contagious.

‘The form is elongated, dynamic and adventurous, and the musical ambition and performance bears witness to an ensemble void of compromise and led solely by its own flame.

‘The album’s narration revolves around the impermanence of all things and is a personal reflection on how this aspect is contained within the human drama, religion and nature.’  Just wow!