Last Night's Telly - Britain's Got Talent Final

So Attraction won. The shadow theatre group from Hungary became the seventh winners of ITV's major talent competition. They secured a £250,000 cash prize, a spot on the Royal Variety Performance and anything else Syco Entertainment comes up with.

There has been a lot of negative talk on the internet saying they shouldn't have entered because they're not British. Unfortunately the rules state that anybody in the European Union who can work in the United Kingdom can apply for the show. Foreigners winning British shows isn't the norm these days. We've had Nadia Almada winning Big Brother, she is Portuguese. Shilpa Shetty winning Celebrity Big Brother, she is an Indian national. Also the first winner of Britain's Best Dish was a curry that originated from India.

As with all ITV shows that asks the viewer to phone in and vote for their favourite contestant. The voting percentages are published to the public. Here is the voting breakdown of all the semi finals.

Semi Final 1:

Richard & Adam - 66.0%
Arisxandra Libantino - 13.4%
Youth Creation - 7.2%
Aaron Crow - 5.6%
Philip Green - 3.3%
Band of Voices - 1.9%
J - Unity - 1.5%
Bosom Buddies - 1.0%
Martin Healey - 0.1%

Semi Final 2:

Jack Carroll - 42.5%
Gabz Gardiner - 22.6%
Jack & Cormac - 15.0%
Alice Fredenham - 12.3%
McKnasty - 2.7%
MD - 2.3%
Meat Diva - 1.5%
Martin & Marielle - 0.6%
Modupe - 0.5%

Semi Final 3:

Luminites - 35.6%
Pre Skool - 16.9%
Joseph Hall - 16.4%
Rosie O'Sullivan - 15.4%
Robbie Kennedy - 12.6%
MC Boy - 0.9%
Freelusion - 0.9%
Stevie Pink - 0.7%
Thomas Bounce - 0.6%

Semi Final 4:

Francine Lewis - 23.2%
Alex Keirl - 21.4%
Asanda Jezile - 19.4%
James More - 14.3%
AJ & Chloe - 12.7%
Shockarellas - 3.4%
Chasing The Dream - 2.2%
Poppin' Ron - 2.1%
Club Town Freaks - 1.3%

Semi Final 5:

Attraction - 59.1%
Jordan O'Keefe - 15.1%
Steve Hewlett - 12.0%
Aliki - 6.6%
Gospel Singers Incognito - 2.5%
Maarty Broekman - 2.0%
CEO Dancers - 1.2%
Glambassadors - 1.1%
Rob's Duelling Pianos - 0.4

Two observations. The first being in the third semi final with the percentages being so close between second and fourth place. Joseph Hall lost out to Pre Skool by a mere 0.5%. Also in the fourth semi final. Had the judges vote went to Deadlock, then we would see Alex Keirl reaching the final and not Asanda.

As for the final last night. Here is the final voting breakdown.

Attraction - 27.0%
Jack Carroll - 20.1%
Richard & Adam - 15.4%
Steve Hewlett - 14.7%*
Luminites - 6.8%
Jordan O'Keefe - 3.7%
Gabz Gardiner - 3.6%
Arisxandra Libantino - 2.9%
Pre-Skool - 2.8%
Francine Lewis - 2.0%
Asanda Jezile- 1.2%

* Steve Hewlett was the wildcard chosen by the judges.

If you remember last week's blog post. Apart from the wildcard, where it wasn't revealed who they were. I predicted where the acts would end up in the final public vote. Here is what I predicted to what the public actually voted for.

Name of Act	Official Voting Public Finish	My Predicted Finish
Attraction	1st	1st
Jack Carroll	2nd	2nd
Richard & Adam	3rd	4th
Luminites	4th	5th
Jordan O’Keefe	5th	7th
Gabz Gardiner	6th	3rd
Arisxandra Libantino	7th	10th
Pre Skool	8th	8th
Francine Lewis	9th	6th
Asanda Jezile	10th	9th

Out of a possible ten predictions. I secured three predictions correctly. Also three other acts where I predicted their outcome, I was one place out.

Observations. Very surprised to see Francine Lewis finishing second from bottom. Her act wasn't as a good as her semi final but her final performance was better than a number of other acts who performed last night. Francine's decline from winning semi final 4 to tenth place could lead to the viewers knowing she has done TV work before and doesn't deserve to win.

Pleased to see Steve Hewlett and Arthur Lager finish a respectable fourth as the wildcard act. Given The Dark Lord robbed him of his semi final place a week last Friday. The other three judges ganged up on him and chose him as the wildcard act. Also a sign of sweet vengeance. Hewlett continued to mock Cowell even more with his grand final performance.




Credit also goes to Richard & Adam who continued singing whilst protester Natalie Holt came onto the stage from the orchestra to throw eggs at The Dark Lord.

I felt the grand final as a whole wasn't as good as last year. It was more like the 2010 final where it produced an anticlimax. Back then, Spelbound were the runaway favourites before the semi finals started and they went on to win it. Same applied with Attraction. Bookies favourites before the semi finals started and ended up as overall winners. It was worth noting the bookies odds for Jack Carroll began to shorten by a large margin after his performance but he wasn't even close with the final voting percentage. Most of the final performances didn't top their semi final performance. Attraction decided to adapt an "appropriate" British theme for the final but was no where as good as the tear jerker performances in the semi final and their theatre audition. Gabz Gardiner, although she performed a new song. She still broke into her one trick pony with that song about playing with lighters. Richard & Adam had the odd glitch at the start. Something the Dark Lord picked up. Jack Carroll wasn't as brutal joke wise as his semi final gig. He mocked The Voice last night but that is old hat now. Francine Lewis. She produced new impressions but the Katie Price song was cringe-worthy. Not a fan of the 11 year old singers. Jordan O'Keefe. I've said he didn't deserve to be in the final but the young girls liked him. I think the night should go to Steve Hewlett. His wildcard performance had me in stitches and as stated, pleased to see him finish a credible fourth place.

On the More Talent show. Stephen Mulhern revealed the predictions on what the judges, Ant & Dec and himself thought who would win. The predictions were written down at the Top 45 reveal stage.

David Walliams - The Duelling Pianos
Alesha Dixon - Francine Lewis
Amanda Holden - Alice Fredenham
Simon Cowell - Alice Fredenham or Jack Carroll
Ant McPartlin - Alice Fredenham
Dec Donnelly - Alice Fredenham
Stephen Mulhern - Francine Lewis

Interesting that four out of the seven people went for Alice Fredenham. Although she failed to reach the grand final.

Question is whether any of the finalists will have a future after last night. Looking at the eleven finalists.

Attraction - With the £250,000 prize secured and performing on the Royal Variety Show. Their act can only go so far. They cannot make money from DVDs but can from performing shows worldwide. The American market is different to the European one but will they like it?

Jack Carroll - We could see him appear on a television show in the not too far distant future. He will certainly support many comedians as a warm up act. Wouldn't be surprised if Syco Entertainment signs him up, Same goes to Avalon who have signed major comedians like Harry Hill and Al Murray on their books.

Richard & Adam - Possibly a record deal but they need to improve on their voices. The Dark Lord can help them with that.

Luminites - Similar to Richard & Adam, possibly a record deal for them.

Jordan O’Keefe - Not sure. Could be back to reality for him.

Gabz Gardiner - Could make a record with THAT song but nothing more.

Arisxandra Libantino - Back to reality for her. She'll be forgotten in a matter of weeks.

Pre Skool - Like Nu Skool last year. They'll fizzle into obscurity.

Francine Lewis - Given she has had television work for Channel 4. The only future for her is the comedy circuit.

Asanda Jezile (surprised nobody on the internet made a cruel joke and called her Asanda Jezebel) - With Arisxandra. She'll be forgotten in a matter of weeks.

Steve Hewlett - Could get a one-off TV show. Otherwise it would back to the comedy circuit and places like Butlins.

That's it for another year... 


One final note. Can someone fine this twat of a Morrison's judge for parking in front of these disabled spaces.

Thank goodness those Morrisons judges can now feck off. Especially the one sitting on the left with his "circles of love".