Britain's Got Talent (series 9)

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Britain's Got Talent
Series 9
Presented byAnthony McPartlin (ITV)
Declan Donnelly (ITV)
Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)
JudgesSimon Cowell
Amanda Holden
Alesha Dixon
David Walliams
WinnerJules O'Dwyer & Matisse
Runner-upsJamie Raven
Côr Glanaethwy
Release
Original networkITV
ITV2 (BGMT)
Original release11 April (2015-04-11) –
31 May 2015 (2015-05-31)
Series chronology
← Previous
Series 8
Next →
Series 10
List of episodes

The ninth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 31 May 2015. The series saw the "Wildcard" format introduced in the sixth series being modified in this series to include a "Public Wildcard" – like the "Judges' Wildcard" any act eliminated in the semi-finals, primarily those that lost out in the Judges' vote, could be reinstated by the public, based on the one that received the most votes from them before the final. Although speculations and rumours began to emerge after the previous series ended, claiming that some of the judges would be leaving before the ninth series,[1][2] these were later dismissed as being unfounded by ITV, on 16 January 2015.[3]

The ninth series was won by dog tricks duo Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse, with magician Jamie Raven finishing in second place, and Welsh choir Côr Glanaethwy placing third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.9 million viewers. The ninth series saw the programme have to answer allegations of animal cruelty against a ventriloquist, while the producers caused controversy over the handling of O'Dwyer's performance in the final that Ofcom later ruled to have been misleading following complaints by viewers.[4]

Series overview[]

Following open auditions held the previous year between October to December,[5] the Judges' auditions took place between January and February 2015, within Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London.[6] Unlike previous years, where a guest judge had to stand-in for another, no issues occurred that caused a member of the judging panel to be absent, while the auditions were held in a more standard manner for this year, though with the "Golden Buzzer" format remaining a part of them since its introduction to the show in the previous series.

Of the participants that took part, forty-five made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals – of these acts, dance troupe Boyband, singer Calum Scott, choir Revelation Avenue, dance act Entity Allstars, and comedy singer Lorraine Bowen, each received a golden buzzer during their auditions – with nine appearing in each one. In a minor change to the show's "Wildcard act" format, the series saw the introduction of the "Public Wildcard". Like the "Judges' wildcard", if a semi-finalist was eliminated in their semi-final at the Judges' vote, they became eligible to be picked as a wildcard act by the public, who would vote on which one they would like to reinstate into the final once all the semi-finals had been aired, with their choice being the one to have received the most votes by the time the final was due to be aired. While the Public Wildcard was extreme martial artist Jesse-Jane McParland, who lost out in the tied Judges' vote in the final semi-final, the Judges' Wildcard for this series was dance troupe Boyband, who lost the Judges' vote in the fourth semi-final. As a result, it led to a total of twelve acts taking part in the series' final.

The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

  Winner |   Runner-up |   Third place |   Finalist |   Semi-finalist
Playing card club A.svg Judges' Wildcard Finalist | Playing card heart A.svg Public Wildcard Finalist | Yellow ffff00 pog.svg Golden Buzzer Audition
Participant Age(s) 1 Genre Act Semi-final Result
Alison Jiear 50 Singing Singer 2 Eliminated
Andrew Fleming 51 Comedy Impressionist 1 Eliminated
Beat Brothers 19–23 Dance Tap Dance Group 5 Eliminated
Becky O'Brien 34 Singing Singer 1 Eliminated
Billy and Emily England 28, 25 Danger Extreme Roller Skating Duo 1 Eliminated
Bonetics 17 Variety / Dance Contortionist Dancer 2 Eliminated
Boyband Yellow ffff00 pog.svg Playing card club A.svg 17–19 Dance Dance Troupe 4 Finalist
Calum Scott Yellow ffff00 pog.svg 26 Singing Singer 5 Finalist
Chloe Louise Crawford 27 Magic Illusionist 5 Eliminated
Côr Glanaethwy 7–65 Singing Choir 1 Third place
Danny Posthill 28 Comedy Impressionist 5 Finalist
Dylan Byrd 17 Dance Dancer 3 Eliminated
Ella Shaw 18 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist 3 Eliminated
Emma Jones 23 Singing Opera Singer 5 Eliminated
Entity Allstars Yellow ffff00 pog.svg 10–15 Dance Street Dance Troupe 1 Finalist
Gracie Wickens-Sweet 11 Singing Singer 3 Eliminated
Groove Thing 7–11 Dance Dance Troupe 2 Eliminated
Henry Gallagher 12 Singing Singer & Guitarist 1 Eliminated
IMD Legion 9–17 Dance Street Dance Troupe 3 Eliminated
Isaac Waddington 15 Singing Singer & Pianist 4 Finalist
Jamie Raven 31 Magic Close-up Magician 3 Runner-up
Jeffrey Drayton 73 Magic Entertainer 4 Eliminated
Jesse-Jane McParland Playing card heart A.svg 9 Danger Extreme Martial Artist 5 Finalist
Jonathan Lutwyche 15 Dance Contemporary Dancer 5 Eliminated
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse 49, 7 2 Animals Dog Tricks Act 2 Winner
Lisa Sampson 35 Variety Hula-Hoop Artist 4 Eliminated
Lorraine Bowen Yellow ffff00 pog.svg 53 Singing / Music Singer & Keyboardist 1 Eliminated
Luca Calo 23 Dance Dancer 2 Eliminated
Maia Gough 13 Singing Singer 4 Eliminated
Marc Metral 61 2 Comedy / Animals Ventriloquist Dog Act 4 Eliminated
Michael Late 44 Magic Illusionist 2 Eliminated
Misstasia 22–24 Singing Girl Group 5 Eliminated
Mitch & Cally the Wonderdog 42, 10 3 Animals / Variety World Record Attempting Dog Trick Act 1 Eliminated
Narinder Dhani 43 Variety / Music Comb Musician 3 Eliminated
OK Worldwide 19–28 Acrobatics Acrobatic Troupe 4 Eliminated
Old Men Grooving 40–60 Dance Dance Troupe 2 Finalist
Peter Lambert 32 Variety Circus Performer 5 Eliminated
Revelation Avenue Yellow ffff00 pog.svg 20–30 Singing Gospel Choir 2 Eliminated
Ruby Red Performers 25–64 Dance Burlesque Dance Troupe 1 Eliminated
The Honeybuns 22–33 Singing Girl Group 2 Eliminated
The Kanneh-Masons 9–18 Music / Variety Classical Band 4 Eliminated
The Kingdom Tenors 21–31 Singing Vocal Harmony Group 3 Eliminated
The Neales 24–59 Singing Vocal Group 4 Finalist
The Sakyi Five 10–20 Singing Boyband 3 Eliminated
UDI 19-32 Dance Electronic Light Dance Troupe 3 Finalist
  • ^1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series.
  • ^2 The age of the dogs used by Jules O'Dwyer, other than Matisse, and that of the dog used by Marc Metral, were not disclosed during their time on the programme.
  • ^3 The latter value denotes the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Semi-finals summary[]

Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Buzzed out | Crystal Clear app clean.svg Judges' vote |   Won the public vote
  Won the judges' vote |   Lost the judges' vote |   Eliminated

Semi-final 1 (25 May)[]

Guest Performer, Results Show: Ricky Martin

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Finished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Entity Allstars 1 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 2nd (Won Judges' vote)
Billy and Emily England 2 7th – Eliminated
Mitch & Cally the Wonderdog 3 5th – Eliminated
Henry Gallagher 4 Crystal Clear app clean.svg 3rd (Lost Judges' vote)
Côr Glanaethwy 5 1st (Won Public vote)
Ruby Red Performers 6 9th – Eliminated
Andrew Fleming 7 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg 8th – Eliminated
Becky O'Brien 8 6th – Eliminated
Lorraine Bowen 9 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg 4th – Eliminated

Semi-final 2 (26 May)[]

Guest Performer, Results Show: Jack Pack

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Finished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Groove Thing 1 4th – Eliminated
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse 2 1st (Won Public vote)
Bonetics 3 5th – Eliminated
Revelation Avenue 4 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 3rd (Judges' vote tied – Lost on Public vote)
The HoneyBuns 5 6th – Eliminated
Michael Late 6 7th – Eliminated
Luca Calò 7 9th – Eliminated
Alison Jiear 8 8th – Eliminated
Old Men Grooving 9 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 2nd (Judges' vote tied – Won on Public vote)

Semi-final 3 (27 May)[]

Guest Performer, Results Show: Alesha Dixon

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Finished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
The Sakyi Five 1 6th – Eliminated
UDI 2 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 2nd (Judges' vote tied – Won on Public vote)
Dylan Byrd 3 8th – Eliminated
Ella Shaw 4 7th – Eliminated
Gracie Wickens-Sweet 5 5th – Eliminated
IMD Legion 6 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 3rd (Judges' vote tied – Lost on Public vote)
Narinder Dhani 7 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg 9th – Eliminated
The Kingdom Tenors 8 4th – Eliminated
Jamie Raven 9 1st (Won Public vote)

Semi-final 4 (28 May)[]

Guest Performer, Results Show: Olly Murs

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Finished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Ok Worldwide 1 9th – Eliminated
Lisa Sampson 2 7th – Eliminated
The Kanneh-Masons 3 5th – Eliminated
The Neales 4 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 2nd (Won Judges' vote)
Maia Gough 5 6th – Eliminated
Jeffrey Drayton 6 Crystal Clear action button cancel.svg 8th – Eliminated
Marc Métral 7 4th – Eliminated
Isaac Waddington 8 1st (Won Public vote)
Boyband 4 9 Crystal Clear app clean.svg 3rd (Lost Judges' vote)
  • ^4 Boyband were later sent through to the final as the judges' wildcard.

Semi-final 5 (29 May)[]

Guest performers, Results Show: Collabro

Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Finished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Beat Brothers 1 6th – Eliminated
Chloe Louise Crawford 2 8th – Eliminated
Peter Lambert 3 9th – Eliminated
Misstasia 4 7th – Eliminated
Jonathan Lutwyche 5 4th – Eliminated
Emma Jones 6 5th – Eliminated
Danny Posthill 7 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 2nd (Judges' vote tied – Won on Public vote)
Jesse-Jane McParland 5 8 Crystal Clear app clean.svg Crystal Clear app clean.svg 3rd (Judges' vote tied – Lost on Public vote)
Calum Scott 9 1st (Won Public vote)
  • ^5 Jesse-Jane McParland was later sent through to the final as the public's wildcard.

Final (31 May)[]

Guest Performers, Results Show: Andrea Bocelli, and cast of Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance

  Winner |   Runner-up |   3rd place
Finalist Order Finished [7]
Entity Allstars 1 11th
UDI 2 10th
The Neales 3 9th
Boyband 4 12th
Jesse-Jane McParland 5 8th
Danny Posthill 6 7th
Calum Scott 7 6th
Côr Glanaethwy 8 3rd
Old Men Grooving 9 4th
Jamie Raven 10 2nd
Isaac Waddington 11 5th
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse 12 1st

Ratings[]

Main article: List of Britain's Got Talent episodes
Episode Date Total viewers (millions) [8] Weekly rank [8] Share (%)
Auditions 1 11 April 11.25 1 43.2 [9]
Auditions 2 18 April 11.47 1 44.1 [10]
Auditions 3 25 April 11.87 1 46.3 [11]
Auditions 4 2 May 11.73 1 45.0 [12]
Auditions 5 9 May 11.64 1 45.1 [13]
Auditions 6 16 May 11.55 1 47.0 [14]
Auditions 7 23 May 9.35 1 35.2 [15]
Semi-final 1 25 May 10.18 3 37.8 [16]
Semi-final 1 results 7.74 15 28.7 [16]
Semi-final 2 26 May 9.34 10 36.8 [17]
Semi-final 2 results 7.60 16 31.1 [17]
Semi-final 3 27 May 9.48 6 38.8 [18]
Semi-final 3 results 8.09 13 31.7 [18]
Semi-final 4 28 May 9.26 11 37.2 [19]
Semi-final 4 results 7.87 12 34.5 [19]
Semi-final 5 29 May 9.51 8 39.2 [20]
Semi-final 5 results 7.91 14 32.1 [20]
Live final 31 May 12.75 1 46.6 [21]

Criticism & controversies[]

Marc Métral ventriloquism act[]

In April 2015, following the audition of Marc Métral, several animal rights groups raised complaints that his performance, involving the use of a dog, purported to portraying a form of animal cruelty on television.[22] The routine he used involved his dog wearing a specially designed "ventriloquist mask" – a special device used by ventriloquists on human volunteers, in order to make them into special dummy character for their routines - and was conducted in a similar manner to that of a participant on the seventh series of America's Got Talent in 2012. Métral refuted the claims by stating that he cared deeply for the well-being of his dog,[23] while Simon Cowell refuted the claims a month later, owing to his involvement in dog charities, defending the broadcast of the footage on Twitter by explaining that the audition was allowed to be shown because both himself and the production staff had involved the RSPCA to oversee the welfare of Métral's dog before, during, and after his performance.[24]

Misleading dog act[]

The ninth series became notable for the controversy surrounding the performance of Jules O'Dwyer, and in particular the routine of her dog tricks act in the final. The nature of the complaint focused on the fact that while O'Dwyer had been clear that her occupation involved training and use multiple dogs for her routines, she hadn't disclosed the fact that she had to use two dogs with similar appearances for the final, as her main dog Matisse was unable to perform a trick involving a tightrope section. When this came to light in an interview the morning after the final on 1 June 2015, Ofcom were forced to launch an investigation after 1,000 complaints were raised by viewers who felt misled by the performance's broadcast.[25][26]

Although no formal action was taken by the programme against O'Dwyer and producers, after Cowell launched his own investigation into the incident,[27][28] an apology had to be issued for the confusion caused by the failure not to disclose this detail as clearly as possible.[29][30] However, on 17 August, Ofcom found in their investigation that while there had been no intention to deceive viewers, both the production staff and ITV were responsible for allowing Britain's Got Talent to mislead people, and ruled that they had breached broadcasting codes that require television and radio programmes to not be misleading and present facts as accurately as possible.[31][32][4][33]

References[]

  1. ^ Adams, Sam (8 June 2014). "Simon Cowell 'to quit as judge' on Britain's Got Talent". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  2. ^ "David Walliams leaves fans confused over the future of Britain's Got Talent". Hello. 8 June 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Britain's Got Talent – the Judges are back". ITV. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  4. ^ a b "BGT misled viewers over winning dog act, Ofcom rules". BBC News. 17 August 2015 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ^ Alexander, Susannah (1 October 2014). "Britain's Got Talent announces open auditions for 2015 series". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Where are the Judges Auditions for BGT 2015?". ITV. 15 September 2014. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "BGT 2015: the votes revealed". ITV. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  9. ^ Lee, Ben (12 April 2015). "Britain's Got Talent returns to ITV with 9.5 million viewers". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  10. ^ Lee, Ben (19 April 2015). "Britain's Got Talent continues with 9.5 million viewers on ITV". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  11. ^ Lee, Ben (26 April 2015). "Britain's Got Talent rises to nearly 10 million viewers on ITV". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  12. ^ Lee, Ben (3 May 2015). "Britain's Got Talent dominates Saturday night with 9.6 million on ITV". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  13. ^ Lee, Ben (10 May 2015). "Britain's Got Talent continues with 9.6 million viewers on ITV". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  14. ^ Lee, Ben (17 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Atlantis finale averages 2.5 million viewers on BBC One". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  15. ^ Lee, Ben (24 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Eurovision 2015 averages 6.6 million on BBC One". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  16. ^ a b Rigby, Sam (26 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Britain's Got Talent semi-finals kick off with 8.6m on Monday". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  17. ^ a b Rigby, Sam (27 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Britain's Got Talent continues to dominate with 7.8m for ITV". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  18. ^ a b Rigby, Sam (28 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Britain's Got Talent rises to 8.2m with third semi-final". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  19. ^ a b Rigby, Sam (29 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Britain's Got Talent wows 7.8m on Thursday for ITV". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  20. ^ a b Rigby, Sam (30 May 2015). "UK TV ratings: Big Brother: Timebomb eviction twist peaks with 1.36 million". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  21. ^ Rigby, Sam (1 June 2015). "UK TV ratings: Britain's Got Talent final dominates with 11.4m on Sunday". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  22. ^ Fletcher, Alex (13 April 2015). "Britain's Got Talent: RSPCA investigating Marc Metral's 'talking dog' act". BT.com. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  23. ^ Jess Denham (14 April 2015). "Britain's Got Talent 2015: RSPCA investigating Marc Metral's miming dog after cruelty complaints". www.independent.co.uk.
  24. ^ "Simon Cowell defends Britain's Got Talent 'talking' dog act". www.itv.com. 29 May 2015.
  25. ^ Forrester, Katy; Leyfield, James (1 June 2015). "BGT viewers TRICKED as Jules O'Dwyer reveals a STUNT dog was used instead of Matisse for tight-rope walk". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  26. ^ Lee, Ben (1 June 2015). "Britain's Got Talent winner Matisse the dog didn't actually do that tightrope walk". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  27. ^ "Simon Cowell orders investigation into Matisse stunt double". The Daily Telegraph. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  28. ^ "Simon Cowell 'could FIRE producers' over BGT's Jules and Matisse stunt dog con: 'Heads could roll'". Daily Mirror. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  29. ^ "Anger after BGT winner Matisse revealed to have used 'stunt dog'". ITV. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  30. ^ "BGT winner 'shocked and surprised' by reaction to dog double". The Guardian. Press Association. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  31. ^ "Cowell 'Felt Like An Idiot' Over BGT Dog Act". Sky News. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  32. ^ Plunkett, John (3 June 2015). "Simon Cowell: Britain's Got Talent double dog controversy a 'cock-up'". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  33. ^ The Ofcom Broadcasting Code - Section Five: Due impartiality and due accuracy
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