british

Finishing Up Britain’s Got Talent

I’m very late on this followup to my original Britain’s Got Talent post, but a big migraine, elections and life conspired against me. However, since my original post has proven to be very popular both stat-wise and reaction-wise (it’s cool when folks who live in the UK link to an American’s post about their TV, even when they’re related to me) I’ll go ahead and finish this up. At least I don’t have to worry about spoiling anyone now (and if you’re in England and have been in a cave this week, go watch it before reading the next paragraph.)

If you’re in the U.S. and wonder which kid ended up winning (because really the chances of a non-kid taking the prize were pretty bleak after the semis) it was the kid dancing in the fake rain. Which was preferable to me, because both of the other kids were supposedly in the process of signing with Simon Cowell before the finals even took place. And folks wonder why people thought the show was rigged.

But I’m glad he won out, because as Cowell said the last night of the semis, this is not called “Britain’s Saddest Story”. While the choir boy was lovely, he carried the bullying story a little too far. George had not tried to ploy the audience with sympathy for his crippling scoliosis, even though he could’ve. George’s win lead to this great moment:

The runner-up was my favourite of the finals — a pair of Indian guys who did an awesome dance routine to “Thriller”. If they had been under 18, they would’ve won.

The best pure talent of the show was probably this four-woman act called Escala. Three of them played electric violin, while the fourth played electric cello. They were all incredibly hot, and they’ve supposedly already signed with Cowell. This is their semifinal performance, which kicked serious ass.

Because this is my blog and I’m a bit of a girl who likes eye candy, here’s the guy I called “the cute Scottish plumber”. His semi performance was better than in the finals, so you get that. Andrew Muir, come over and marry me and try out for American Idol. I think you’re much better than that cheesy David Cook bloke. And you can fix my plumbing.

…..what? My sink’s got a leak. My KITCHEN sink. What did y’all think I was talking about, pervs?

And while I’m in the semis, here’s the performance that almost got Piers and Amanda into a fistfight in the middle of the show. This kid was a former Arsenal youth player who did really cool footy tricks. He was amazing in the tryouts, but he was clearly overcome with nerves and dropped the ball a couple of times in the semis.

Amanda loved him and the guys didn’t, and there were some real words exchanged. He almost got through anyway on the public vote. I thought he was a novelty act that was clever, and he’s destined to do awesome YouTube vids.

Speaking of novelty acts, this is a husband-and-wife team from Blackpool who did a quick-change act while the wife sang a Madonna song. It was pretty fun, but Cowell hated them and clanged Amanda’s buzzer. That didn’t go over well with Amanda or the couple, who did not take the criticism gracefully.

Finally, in the spirit of what Britain’s Got Talent is really, truly about, here’s a guy named Craig Harper who had been performing in clubs all his life and got to the semis and almost made it through. I hope he does get a lot of extra work from his appearance on the show, because he was not only a good act but a sweet guy. Good luck, Craig. You touched this American’s heart with your grace in losing.

Simon Cowell has announced plans to make a World’s Got Talent show, so expect posts about cheesy Japanese karaoke acts and African tribal drummers someday soon. In the meantime, I’ll have to figure out how to live without Ant and Dec on Saturdays for awhile. It’s gonna be hard.

© 2008 A Place to Crash.