ASHLEY STEPS IN FOR THE BIG BOSS
He found fame back in 2009 as the leader of dance troupe Diversity – who famously beat Susan Boyle to be crowned BGT champions. So, really, we can’t think of anyone more fitting than Ashley Banjo to step in for Simon Cowell, who’s currently recovering from emergency surgery after a bike accident in LA earlier this month. Speaking to heat, Ashley says it’s a “super-humbling and superexciting” opportunity for him. “I remember walking out on that stage as a 20-year-old dancer from east London,” he says. “And now I’m walking out there and stepping in for the big man. It feels almost poetic.”
As for Si, he may be raging at that “stupid bike” for forcing him to miss the semi-finals, but he tells us he “couldn’t think of a better person to sit in my seat… Ashley knows the power of the show and the responsibility of it.”