Britain's Got Talent (series 3)

Britain's Got Talent
Series 3
Broadcast from	11 April–30 May 2009
Judges	Simon Cowell Amanda Holden Piers Morgan Kelly Brook (Manchester auditions)
Presenter(s)	Britain's Got Talent: Ant & Dec Britain's Got More Talent: Stephen Mulhern
Broadcaster	ITV
Winner: Diversity
Origin	Leytonstone Dagenham
Runner-up
Susan Boyle
Chronology
◄ 2009 ►

The third series' of Britain's Got Talent was the third series of the programme. It began airing on ITV on 11 April. The 2009 panel of judges consisted of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. Kelly Brook was originally announced as a new fourth judge, reportedly being offered £200,000 for the role,^[1] but was fired after just six days, having acted as a judge in Manchester only, just one of the five audition venues.^[2] According to Cowell, the reason given for sacking Brook was because the producers decided the format was "too complicated" with four judges.

The application process took place throughout January and February 2009 with auditions being held in five of Britain's major cities: Manchester for three days, where the judges saw a total of 120 auditionees; Glasgow for one day, viewing a total of 40 auditionees; Birmingham for three days, watching a further 120 auditionees; London for three days, seeing 128 acts; and Cardiff for one day, where they saw 40 auditionees.

One of the most notable performances for the series was by Susan Boyle, a 48-year-old Scottish woman. Boyle sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical Les Misérables. The performance earned a unanimous "yes" vote and resounding astonishment from the judges.^[3] Her performance helped lift the show to a launch record of 11.2 million viewers. Within five days of her initial appearance, YouTube recordings of the event had collectively generated more than 100 million views. Boyle also attracted widespread international media coverage.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

The final were held ended on 30 May 2009. Other people in the final included; Aidan Davis, Stavros Flatley, Flawless, Hollie Steel, Diversity, Shaun Smith, Shaheen Jafargholi, the grandfather and granddaughter singing duo "2 Grand" and Julian Smith who played the soprano saxophone. The top three finishers were Julian Smith, Diversity and Susan Boyle, with street dance group Diversity coming out as the winners, Susan Boyle was the runner-up, and saxophonist Julian Smith came in third place.

Contents 1 Judges and presenters 2 Auditions 3 Semi-finalists 4 Semi-final summary 4.1 Semi-final 1 4.1.1 Judge's vote 4.2 Semi-final 2 4.2.1 Judge's vote 4.3 Semi-final 3 4.3.1 Judge's vote 4.4 Semi-final 4 4.4.1 Judge's vote 4.5 Semi-final 5 4.5.1 Judge's vote 5 Final 5.1 Footnotes 6 Live show chart 7 Ratings 8 Controversies 8.1 Performance order 8.2 Fabia Cerra 8.3 Fred Bowers 8.4 Natalie Okri 8.5 Susan Boyle 8.6 Hollie Steel 9 References 10 External links

Judges and presenters

Initially, it was announced that the judges for the 2009 series would consist of original judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan with the addition of new judge Kelly Brook.^[11] However, it was later announced that Brook was to leave the panel after just six days working on the show.^[12] It was reported that Cowell felt "very bad"^[13] following Brook's exit and that he had offered her a job in another role on the show.^[14] It was also reported that Brook would receive her full £100,000 fee for appearing on the show.^[15][16] According to Cowell, the reason given for sacking Brook was because the producers decided the format was "too complicated" with four judges. She has since been referred to as a "guest judge" at only Manchester.^[17][18][19]

Ant & Dec returned as hosts of the main show on ITV.^[20] Stephen Mulhern also returned as host of the sister-show Britain's Got More Talent.

Auditions

The application process took place throughout January and February 2009. First the judges visited Manchester for three days where they saw a total of 120 auditioners. They then visited Glasgow for a day, viewing a total of 40 auditioners. They then headed back down south to England, and to Birmingham for three days, watching a further 120 auditioners.

The next stop was London, where the judges saw a total of 128 acts over three days from Wednesday 28 January to Friday 30 January. Finally, the judges went to Cardiff for a day on Monday 3 February, where they saw 40 auditioners attempt to win their vote. Auditions were also to be held in Newcastle, but were cancelled just days beforehand.

Semi-finalists

On 23 May, the 40 semi-finalists selected from the almost 200 successful auditions in the First Round Call-Backs were revealed.^[21]

Key	Winner	Runner-up	Third place	Finalist	Semi-finalist (lost judges' vote)

Name / Name of act	Age(s)	Genre	Act	From	Semi	Position reached
2 Grand	12 and 76	Singing	Grandfather and granddaughter singing duo	Doncaster	4	4 ! Finalist
Aidan Davis	12 (11 at audition)	Dancing	Street dancer	Birmingham	5	4 ! Finalist
The Barrow Boys	18-27	Dancing	Wheelbarrow dancers	Devon	3	6 ! Semi-finalist
Ben and Becky	18,16 (17,16 in audition)	Dancing	Ballroom dancers	Essex	3	6 ! Semi-finalist
Brit Chix	23-26	Music	Rock band	Boston	4	6 ! Semi-finalist
Callum Francis	12	Performing	Musical theatre performer	Hertfordshire	4	5 ! Semi-finalist
Darth Jackson	37	Dancing	Darth Vader and Michael Jackson impersonator	Birmingham	1	6 ! Semi-finalist
DCD Seniors	14-21	Dancing	Dance troupe	Cardiff	5	6 ! Semi-finalist
Diversity	13-25 (12-25 in the audition)	Dancing	Street dancers	London and Essex	1	1 ! Winner
DJ Talent	30	Singing	Rapper	London	2	6 ! Semi-finalist
The Dreambears	29-34	Dancing	Comedy dancers	London	5	6 ! Semi-finalist
Fabia Cerra	35	Dancing	Burlesque dancer	Oxford	4	6 ! Semi-finalist
Faces of Disco	24,30	Comedy / Dancing	Comedy dancers	London	1	6 ! Semi-finalist
Flawless	20-31	Dancing	Street dancers	North London	2	4 ! Finalist
Floral High Notes	43,46	Singing	Opera singing and flower arranging	Wilmslow&Stockport	3	6 ! Semi-finalist
Fred Bowers	73	Dancing	Break dancing pensioner	Loughborough	4	6 ! Semi-finalist
Gareth Oliver	28	Comedy	Ventriloquism	Calderdale	2	5 ! Semi-finalist
Good Evans	6-42	Singing	Singing family	Coventry	5	6 ! Semi-finalist
Greg Pritchard	24	Singing	Countertenor/Male Soprano	Usk	5	5 ! Semi-finalist
Harmony	14,16	Singing	Musical theatre performers	Essex	3	6 ! Semi-finalist
Hollie Steel	10	Singing	Singer	Accrington	5	4 ! Finalist
Hot Honeyz	16-25	Dancing	Dancers	Maidstone	2	6 ! Semi-finalist
Jackie Prescott and Tippy Toes	40,2	Dancing / Animals	Dog dancing	Oxford	4	6 ! Semi-finalist
Jamie Pugh	38 (37 in the audition)	Singing	Singer	Cardiff	2	6 ! Semi-finalist
Julia Naidenko	24	Dancing	Belly dancer	London (originally Latvia)	1	6 ! Semi-finalist
Julian Smith	40 (39 in audition)	Instrumentalist	Saxophonist	Halesowen, West Midlands	4	3 ! 3rd Place
Kay Oresanya	31	Singing	Human "saxophonist"	Glasgow (originally Nigeria)	3	6 ! Semi-finalist
Luke Clements	36	Miscellaneous	Fruit Juggler	Cornwall	5	6 ! Semi-finalist
Martin "Gos" Matcham	35	Instrumentalist	Guitar player	Dover	5	6 ! Semi-finalist
MD Showgroup	9-17	Dancing	Street dancers	Liverpool	3	5 ! Semi-finalist
Merlin Cadogan	35	Stunts	Escapologist, Juggler, Breath Holder	Devon	2	6 ! Semi-finalist
Natalie Okri	10	Singing	Singer	South East London	1	5 ! Semi-finalist
Nick Hell	26	Stunts	Freak show/stunt performer	Sunderland	1	6 ! Semi-finalist
Peter Coghlan (aka Mama Trish)	48	Performer	Drag act	Stafford	2	6 ! Semi-finalist
Shaheen Jafargholi	12	Singing	Singer	Swansea, South Wales	3	4 ! Finalist
Shaun Smith	17	Singing	Singer	Lichfield	2	4 ! Finalist
Stavros Flatley	13,40 (12,40 in audition)	Comedy/Dancing	Comedy Dancers	North London (originally Cyprus)	3	4 ! Finalist
Sue Son	24	Instrumentalist	Electric violinist	London	1	6 ! Semi-finalist
Susan Boyle	49	Singing	Singer	Blackburn, West Lothian	1	2 ! 2nd Place
Sugarfree	16-23	Dancing	Street dancers	Gravesend, Kent	4	6 ! Semi-finalist

Semi-final summary

The "Order" columns lists the order of appearance each act made for every episode.

Key	X Buzzed out	✔ Judges' choice	Won the public vote	Won the judges' vote

Semi-final 1

Order	Finished	Artist	Act	Buzzes and judges' choices
				Cowell	Holden	Morgan
1	2nd (36.2%)	Diversity	Street dancers	✔		✔
2	4th	Sue Son	Electric violinist
3	7th	Darth Jackson	Darth Vader/Michael Jackson impersonator	X
4	3rd	Natalie Okri	Singer		✔
5	5th	Julia Naidenko	Belly Dancer		X
6	8th	Nick Hell	Freakshow/stunt performer	X	X	X
7	6th	Faces of Disco	Comedy dancers	X		X
8	1st (52.1%)	Susan Boyle	Singer

Judge's vote

Diversity vs. Natalie Okri

• Morgan: Diversity – said he chose the act that standed the better chance of winning the show.
• Holden: Natalie Okri – gave no reason other than the fact that both acts were in her Top 3.
• Cowell: Diversity – said he had been "huge fans" of Diversity from their first audition.

Semi-final 2

Order	Finished	Artist	Act	Buzzes and judges' choices
				Cowell	Holden	Morgan
1	5th	DJ Talent	Rapper
2	4th	Merlin Cadogan	Escapologist
3	8th	Hot Honeyz	Dancers	X		X
4	6th	Jamie Pugh	Singer		X
5	7th	Peter Coghlan (aka Mama Trish)	Drag act	X	X
6	3rd (lost judges' vote)	Gareth Oliver	Ventriloquist	X		✔
7	2nd (37.1%)	Shaun Smith	Singer	✔	✔
8	1st (38.7%)	Flawless	Street dance troupe

Judge's vote

• Cowell: Shaun Smith - gave no reason, but had buzzed Oliver's performance.
• Morgan: Gareth Oliver - said that he wanted more variety in the final.
• Holden: Shaun Smith - while she agreed with Morgan, she stated that Smith had given the better performance.

Semi-final 3

Order	Finished	Artist	Act	Buzzes and judges' choices
				Cowell	Holden	Morgan
1	4th	Harmony	Musical theatre performers
2	7th	Kay Oresanya	Human saxophone	X
3	6th	Ben and Becky	Ballroom dancers
4	2nd (26.3%)	Shaheen Jafargholi	Singer		✔	✔
5	5th	The Barrow Boys	Wheelbarrow dancers	X		X
6	3rd (lost judges' vote)	MD Showgroup	Dancers	✔
7	8th	Floral High Notes	Opera singing and flower arranging	X
8	1st (50.4%)	Stavros Flatley	Comedy Dancers

Judge's vote

• Cowell: MD Showgroup - said that he liked MD Showgroup's performance more.
• Holden: Shaheen Jafargholi - said that Jafargholi had given the better performance.
• Morgan: Shaheen Jafargholi - said that Jafargholi was the best singer in the competition.

Semi-final 4

Order	Finished	Artist	Act	Buzzes and judges' choices
				Cowell	Holden	Morgan
1	8th	Sugar Free	Dancers
2	7th	Jackie Prescott and Tippy Toes	Dog act			X
3	3rd (lost judges vote)	Callum Francis	Musical performer			✔
4	5th	Fred Bowers	Break dancer
5	6th	Brit Chix	Rock band	X	X	X
6	1st (56.7%)	Julian Smith	Saxophonist
7	2nd (24.6%)	2 Grand	Singers	✔	✔
8	4th	Fabia Cerra	Burlesque dancer

Judge's vote

• Cowell: 2 Grand - said that the elder member of 2 Grand "wouldn't have much of a second shot at this."
• Holden: 2 Grand - said that she would "go with her heart".
• Morgan: Callum Francis - gave no reason.

Semi-final 5

Order	Finished	Artist	Act	Buzzes and judges' choices
				Cowell	Holden	Morgan
1	7th	The Dreambears	Comedy dancers	X
2	6th	Good Evans	Singers			X
3	8th	Luke Clements	Juggler	X	X	X
4 & 7	2nd (26.0%)	Hollie Steel	Singer	✔	✔	✔
5	5th	Martin Matcham	Singer and guitarist	X
6	1st (50.6%)	Aidan Davis	Dancer
8	4th	DCD Seniors	Dancers
9	3rd (lost judges' vote)	Greg Pritchard	Countertenor singer	X

Judge's vote

• Morgan: Hollie Steel - said that Steel's courage in performing twice after messing up had "moved me nearly to tears".
• Holden: Hollie Steel - said Steel gave a better vocal performance than Pritchard.
• Cowell: Hollie Steel - gave no reason.

Final

Key	Winner	Runner-up	Third Place

Order	Finished[22]	Percentage of votes [22][note 1]	Artist	Act
1	8th	3.6%	Flawless	Dance troupe
2	7th	3.8%	Shaheen Jafargholi	Singer
3	5th	6.5%	Aidan Davis	Street dancer
4	10th	1.0%	2 Grand	Duet of "A Whole New World"
5	6th	3.9%	Hollie Steel	Singer
6	4th	16.3%	Stavros Flatley	Greek/Irish comedy dancers
7	9th	3.4%	Shaun Smith	Singer
8	2nd	20.2%	Susan Boyle	Singing "I Dreamed a Dream"
9	1st	24.9%	Diversity	Dance troupe
10	3rd	16.4%	Julian Smith	Saxophonist

Footnotes

1. ^ Out of nearly four million votes. [1]

Live show chart

Legend

Winner

Runner-Up

Third Place

Final Ten

Won Semi Final

Judge's Choice

Top 3 (Eliminated)

Eliminated

Did Not Perform

Show	Contestant	Result
		SF 1	SF 2	SF 3	SF 4	SF 5	Final[22]
Final	Diversity	JC (36.2%)					Winners (24.9%)
	Susan Boyle	Win (52.1%)					Second (20.2%)
	Julian Smith				Win (56.7%)		Third (16.4%)
	Stavros Flatley			Win (50.4%)			4th (16.3%)
	Aidan Davis					Win (50.6%)	5th (6.5%)
	Hollie Steel					JC (26.0%)	6th (3.9%)
	Shaheen Jafargholi			JC (26.3%)			7th (3.8%)
	Flawless		Win (38.7%)				8th (3.6%)
	Shaun Smith		JC (37.1%)				9th (3.4%)
	2 Grand				JC (24.6%)		10th (1.0%)
Semi Final 5
	Greg Pritchard					Top 3
	Martin Matcham					ELIM
	The Dreambears
	Luke Clements
	DCD Seniors
	Good Evans
Semi Final 4	Callum Francis				Top 3
	Brit Chix				ELIM
	Fabia Cerra
	Fred Bowers
	Jackie Prescott and Tippy Toes
	Sugarfree
Semi Final 3	MD Showgroup			Top 3
	Floral Highnotes			ELIM
	The Barrow Boys
	Kay Oresanya
	Harmony
	Ben & Becky
Semi Final 2	Gareth Oliver		Top 3
	DJ Talent		ELIM
	Merlin Cadogan
	Jamie Pugh
	Hot Honeyz
	Peter Coghlan
Semi Final 1	Natalie Okri	Top 3
	Sue Son	ELIM
	Julia Naidenko
	Darth Jackson
	Nick Hell
	Faces Of Disco

Ratings

Show	Date	Overnight rating	Share	Peak	Official rating	Source
Auditions 1	11 April	10.52m	45.1%	11.81m	11.21m	[23]
Auditions 2	18 April	11.86m	50.6%	13.48m	12.95m	[24]
Auditions 3	25 April	12.24m	52.3%	13.16m	13.21m	[25]
Auditions 4	2 May	10.46m	47.2%	11.46m	11.16m	[26]
Auditions 5	9 May	11.12m	48.4%	11.30m	11.98m	[27]
Auditions 6	16 May	9.77m	41.0%	11.02m	11.09m	[28]
Auditions 7	23 May	11.62m	51.1%	12.94m	12.62m	[29]
Semi-final 1	24 May	11.77m	49.2%	13.59m	12.93m	[30]
Semi-final 2	25 May	13.64m	51.6%	15.35m	14.66m	[31]
Semi-final 3	26 May	12.75m	49.9%	14.87m	13.56m	[32]
Semi-final 4	28 May	12.31m	51.2%	13.63m	13.11m	[33]
Semi-final 5	29 May	13.14m	57.3%	15.00m	13.84m	[34]
Final performances	30 May	15.32m	71%	18.02m	16.36m	[35]
Final results		17.33m	67.6%	19.19m	18.29m
Series average	2009	12.35m	52.4%	13.92m	13.36m	[36]

• The auditions 6 episode took a large dip in numbers due to the BBC showing the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
• The final peaked at 19.19 million (71.6%) making it the most watched non-sporting event since a 2003 episode of Coronation Street. Overall, the final was the fifth most watched programme of the century.
• The series officially averaged 13.36m (52.4%), making it the most watched British reality series of the century. It easily surpasses the previous record of 10.51m (42%) gained by the fifth series of The X Factor.

Controversies

Performance order

Although the show denies that the 3 judges influence performance order^[37] the production company has never confirmed that order is random or based on any objective criteria. The lack of objective criteria is underlined by judge Piers Morgan's comments a few days after the final: "I think Flawless were unlucky to have gone on first. If they had gone last it may have been different. They're both amazing dance groups. Diversity were just very lucky.".^[38]

Fabia Cerra

Auditionee Fabia Cerra, a dancer, sparked complaints after her performance in the audition stages was criticised as being unsuitable for a family audience. Cerra undid the top half of her clothing, revealing her breasts, covered with tassels, although the editing of the program included two Union Jack flags as graphics to completely cover her exposed breasts. Despite this, both the producers of the show and ITV received 40 complaints.^[39]

Fred Bowers

Elderly breakdancer Fred Bowers, who did make into the live semi-finals, was also reported to have made disability claims for his leg, despite having no obvious major problems with it. Since the story emerged in the media, Bowers has vowed to pay all the money back if he is found to be in the wrong.^[40]

Natalie Okri

Natalie Okri's performance of Jamelia's "Superstar" in the semi-final was criticised by Simon Cowell for being a bad choice of song. After reaching the Top 3 with dance troupe Diversity in the first semi-final, Okri cried on stage after Simon Cowell chose to put Diversity through to the final instead of her. Following this, Lily Allen called the show, and Cowell's decision, "bordering on child cruelty". After the show, Okri and her mother complained that the song choice was made by the producers and they had been given no choice but to accept.^[41]

Susan Boyle

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) became concerned by press reports about Susan Boyle's erratic behaviour and speculation about her mental condition, and wrote to remind editors about clause 3 (privacy) of their code of press conduct.^[42] The day after the final, Boyle was admitted to The Priory, a private psychiatric clinic in London,^[43] TalkbackThames explained "Following Saturday night's show, Susan is exhausted and emotionally drained." Her stay in hospital attracted widespread attention with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, wishing her well.^[44]

Hollie Steel

In the fifth and last semi-final, contestant Hollie Steel broke down, crying uncontrollably during her performance of "Edelweiss" and was unable to continue singing. After initially being told by Ant & Dec that there was not enough time for her to restart her performance, Simon Cowell overruled and she sang the song from scratch again, complete with judges' comments. She also beat Greg Pritchard in the judges' vote on the basis of her bravery, which was again seen as unfair. Steel has been the only act allowed to restart throughout the entire series, and the time that was found for her second performance forced later acts to be rushed into smaller time slots, which may have hampered their performances as a consequence.^[45]

References

External links

Britain's Got Talent (2009 archive) at itv.com Britain's Got Talent at stv.tv

Britain's Got Talent on Twitter MIG Management

Britain's Got Talent Series 1  · 2  · 3  · 4  · 5  · 6 Presenters Ant & Dec  · Stephen Mulhern Judges Current Simon Cowell · Amanda Holden · Alesha Dixon · David Walliams Former Kelly Brook · Piers Morgan · Michael McIntyre · David Hasselhoff Guest Louis Walsh Winners Paul Potts  · George Sampson  · Diversity  · Spelbound  · Jai McDowall Notable contestants Series 1 Bessie Cursons  · Connie Talbot  · Damon Scott  · The Bar Wizards  · Jake Pratt Series 2 Signature  · Andrew Johnston  · Escala  · Faryl Smith  · Kate and Gin  · Charlie Green  · Charlie Wernham Series 3 Susan Boyle  · Julian Smith  · Aidan Davis  · Hollie Steel  · Shaheen Jafargholi  · Callum Francis  · DJ Talent  · Manjit Singh  · Neil Horan  · Mr. Methane  · Flawless  · John Farnworth Series 4 Twist and Pulse  · Paul Burling  · ReConnected  · Myles and Connor  · Kev Orkian  · Stevie Starr  · The Cheeky Girls  · Matthew Ahmet Series 5 Ronan Parke  · Out of the Blue Related articles List of episodes  · Discography · Syco TV · Fremantlemedia · talkbackTHAMES · ITV