I WANTED TO INSPIRE OTHERS
Britain’s Got Talent tears as survivor Hollie dances
FANS will see “the most emotional Britain’s Got Talent audition ever” tonight from 13-year-old terror bomb survivor Hollie Booth.
The teenager, whose aunt died in the Manchester Arena attack and who had both her legs smashed, weeps on stage as she returns to the city to dance.
She is joined by friends in a tearjerking wheelchair routine, rising up from her own wheelchair with her fist defiantly in the air during the finale.
Sheffield-born Hollie’s performance leaves Simon Cowell so choked with emotion he can hardly speak.
And fellow judges Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden weep as they describe it as “unbelievable”.
Alesha tells dance group Rise: “You are all remarkable women and that was one of my favourite moments ever on this show. Ever!
“I think the whole of Manchester is proud of you. The whole of the UK will be, too.” Amanda says: “Girls, it’s so important not to be defined by tragedy but to be shaped by it. Congratulations it was an amazing audition.”
Simon adds: “You know what, Hollie, it is, wow, this is difficult.
“I’m trying to put… to go through what you went through, and turn a negative into a positive is unbelievable.
“Because what these people did, because they’re cowards and the fact you can come on stage, do what you did, and make such a positive statement with your friends, I’m very proud of you. In fact, I salute you.”
Hollie told the Mirror: “I just wanted
To go through what you did and turn a negative into a positive is unbelievable SIMON COWELL IN SALUTE TO HOLLIE AND DANCING FRIENDS
to do it to help inspire other people. It was nice to have the other girls with me.
“We learnt the routine in two weeks, but we’d been dancing using the wheelchairs since before Christmas.
“I was very nervous because I was doing it in front of the judges. I felt better once I was on the stage. It was very emotional. It just felt nice. I was proud.”
Memories of last May’s atrocity flooded back as Hollie performed with dance group Rise at the Lowry Theatre, which reminded her of the nearby Arena.
Hollie can still not support herself on her left leg and has had 11 operations since the suicide blast which killed her aunt Kelly Brewster and 21 others at an Ariana Grande concert.
Recalling their horror, Hollie’s mum, Claire, said: “I bought Hollie tickets for her birthday as a surprise.
“We had seen Ariana Grande before and she was really good. Me, Hollie and her Aunt Kelly were going. It was an amazing, happy day that ended so badly.
“We had just got up to leave and as we got into the foyer, that is when the bomb went off. It took 23 hours for us to find out that Hollie’s auntie had died, she died at the scene in the arena.
“Hollie broke her right knee, on her left leg she broke her foot, her leg and she has got nerve damage. She can’t walk on her left leg without wearing a splint
“She has had 11 operations so far and she has more to come.
“And she fights every single day and she takes my breath away every time. She loves to dance, it is everything to her.
“Just to see the smile on her face when she comes home, it means so much to us. She is an inspiration to me and to everyone who comes across her.”
Dance group Rise is made up of dancers aged 10 to 24. They wear Manchester “worker bee” T-shirts for their emotional BGT routine.
Choreographer Thea Boyle, 24, was instrumental in getting Hollie performing again. She said: “I said to Hollie’s mum, ‘Let’s get her back dancing, I don’t know how we will do it, but we will do it’.
“We have been together about five or six years, but we have only recently brought this piece together.
“And the reason we have brought this thing together is because Hollie was in the Manchester attack last year.
“We are doing this for us, we are doing it for Hollie, we are doing it for Manchester – and for everybody.”
The judges were so moved they went backstage to speak to the group, something they have never done before.
BGT is on ITV tonight at 8pm.