BGT fakery row
Producers scout professionals to compete in new season … and star act, 79, has already won in Spain!
IF YOU tune in to the opening episode of Britain’s Got Talent tonight, you’ll see a 79-yearold grandmother of seven dance a stunning salsa with a partner just half her age.
Think that sounds like the formula for a winner? Well, you’d be right … because the pair have already danced to victory on the Spanish version of the show. The ITV programme has been caught up in a fresh fakery row after it emerged that the star contestant of the new series has simply been recycled from abroad.
In tonight’s episode, pensioner Paddy Jones can be seen astonishing Simon Cowell and his fellow judges with her audacious routine, spinning around partner Nico Espinosa’s head like a dancer a quarter of her age.
But it turns out the pair also wowed TV audiences in 2009, when they took the £9,000 top prize on Spanish show Tu Si Que Vales [You Are Worth It].
Meanwhile, a secret email has revealed Britain’s Got Talent executives scoured the nation’s top talent
‘Hand-picking the cream of the crop’
agencies looking for seasoned professionals to enter this year’s contest – despite it being billed as a chance for amateurs to take the spotlight.
The email, seen by the Daily Mail, billed the series as a ‘profile raising opportunity’, suggesting some will have entered only to boost ticket or album sales. Many already make a living as singers, lookalike models or tribute acts, meaning their rags to riches tales are unlikely to be quite as genuine as viewers might assume.
The email said: ‘I’m scouting singers for the next series of Britain’s Got Talent for SYCO TV. Really looking for fantastic singers with outstanding voices and some personality for this potentially profile raising opportunity.
‘Looking for OUTSTANDING musical theatre singers of all styles, all ages, all shapes and sizes.’
It has also emerged that half of the contestants on tonight’s show come from abroad, leaving critics asking whether the programme has given up on its quest to find the best of British talent.
One TV insider told the Daily Mail: ‘ This makes a mockery of the talent show format. The whole narrative of Britain’s Got Talent is built around the idea that normal people from all over the country get to show off their hidden talents for the first time.
‘We watch them being whittled down on TV and imagine we could make it too, if only we entered.
‘Instead, it looks as if they are hand-picking the cream of the crop in advance. And many don’t even come from this country.’
Out of 15 acts, tonight’s episode will f eature s even f oreign entrants, including a German violinist, a Frenchman who drums upside down, a Greek karaoke singer, a Ukrainian dance troupe and a cabaret act from the US.
But it is Paddy Jones – real name Sarah – and her younger Spanish dance partner who make the most impact on the judges.
Cowell initially appears unimpressed by the pensioner’s routine, and presses his ‘no’ buzzer 20 seconds into the act. But after seeing her acrobatics he apologises, conceding she has been ‘ ballistic’ and ‘extraordinary’. Fellow judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams also express their astonishment.
Last night, however, show sources admitted Mrs Jones’s star performance had not been a complete surprise. They revealed she was approached and encouraged to enter after producers spotted her on Tu Si Que Vales, and on the Argentine version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2010.
The retired dental nurse, originally from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, started dancing aged two but took it up again only after her husband David died in 2003, 18 months after they retired to Spain. She joined a dance academy run by Espinosa, and the pair have since launched a successful international career.
A Britain’s Got Talent spokesman stressed that although Tu Si Que Vales is seen as the Spanish equivalent of Britain’s Got Talent, it is not officially part of the ‘Got Talent’ franchise and is not owned by Cowell’s company.
He added: ‘Anyone can apply for Britain’s Got Talent whether they are professional or amateur, irrespective of their past experience and all contestants are auditioned on merit. None of the judging panel had seen or knew of Paddy before her audition.’