Britain's Got Talent (series 3)

The third series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 30 May 2009. The judging panel of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan returned from the previous series; a fourth judge, Kelly Brook, was added, but removed from the series shortly after filming began.

Britain's Got Talent
Series 3
Hosted byAnt & Dec (ITV)
Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)
JudgesPiers Morgan
Amanda Holden
Simon Cowell
Kelly Brook (guest)
WinnerDiversity
Runner-upSusan Boyle
Release
Original networkITV
ITV2 (BGMT)
Original release11 April (2009-04-11) –
30 May 2009 (2009-05-30)
Series chronology
Judges for Britain's Got Talent Series 3
Simon Cowell
Amanda Holden
Piers Morgan
Kelly Brook (Guest)

The third series was won by street dance troupe Diversity, with singer Susan Boyle finishing in second place and saxophonist Julian Smith third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 13.3 million viewers, with the figures partly helped by the notable performances of Boyle during her time in on the show,[1] with her audition on the third series considered one of the most famous moments in the programme's history.[2] The programme faced criticism during the third series for airing an unsuitable performance conducted in an audition, while Boyle's well-being became a major concern for producers following the final.

Series overview
Brook was initially intended as a fourth judge, before producers relegated her to being a guest judge.

Following open auditions held the previous year, the Judges' auditions took place across January and February 2009, within Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. Prior to the auditions, Kelly Brook was announced as a permanent fourth judge.[3][4] However, after six days of filming the Manchester auditions Brook was removed from the series. She was credited as a guest judge when her appearance was broadcast.[5]

The third series proved popular amongst viewers for the performances of Susan Boyle, whom deemed her their favourite amongst the participants despite becoming the runner-up in the competition. Her performances made her internationally famous, launching her career as a singer, with her audition performance, involving her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Misérables, being later posted to YouTube and earning around 100 million views within five days of its posting.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

Of the participants that took part, only forty made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals,[12] with eight appearing in each one, and ten of these acts making it into the live final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

  Winner |   Finalist |   Runner-up |   Semi-finalist
Participant Age(s) 1 Genre Act Semi-Final Result
2 Grand 76 & 12 Singing Singing Duo 4 Finalist
Aidan Davis 12 Dance Dancer 5 Finalist
Ben & Becky 18 & 16 Dance Dance Duo 3 Eliminated
Brit Chix 23–26 Singing Band 4 Eliminated
Callum Francis 12 Singing Singer 4 Eliminated
Darth Jackson 37 Dance Dancer 1 Eliminated
DCD Seniors 14–21 Dance Dance Group 5 Eliminated
Diversity 13–25 Dance Dance Group 1 Winner
DJ Talent 30 Singing Rapper 2 Eliminated
Fabia Cerra 35 Dance Dancer 4 Eliminated
Faces of Disco 24 & 30 Dance Dance Duo 1 Eliminated
Flawless 20–31 Dance Dance Group 2 Finalist
Floral High Notes 43 & 46 Singing Opera Singer & Florist 3 Eliminated
Fred Bowers 73 Dance Dancer 4 Eliminated
Gareth Oliver 28 Comedy Ventriloquist 2 Eliminated
Good Evans 6–42 Singing Vocal Group 5 Eliminated
Greg Pritchard 24 Singing Opera Singer 5 Eliminated
Harmony 14 & 16 Singing Singing Duo 3 Eliminated
Hollie Steel 10 Singing Singer 5 Finalist
Hot Honeyz 16–25 Dance Dance Group 2 Eliminated
Jackie Prescott and Tippy Toes 40 & 2 2 Animals Dog Act 4 Eliminated
Jamie Pugh 38 Singing Singer 2 Eliminated
Julia Naidenko 24 Dance Belly Dancer 1 Eliminated
Julian Smith 40 Music Saxophonist 4 Finalist
Kay Oresanya 31 Variety Novelty Act 3 Eliminated
Luke Clements 36 Variety Juggler 5 Eliminated
Martin "Gos" Matcham 35 Singing Singer 5 Eliminated
MD Showgroup 9–17 Dance Dance Group 3 Eliminated
Merlin Cadogan 35 Danger Escape Artist 2 Eliminated
Natalie Okri 10 Singing Singer 1 Eliminated
Nick Hell 26 Danger Sideshow Act 1 Eliminated
Peter Coghlan 48 Dance Dancer 2 Eliminated
Shaheen Jafargholi 12 Singing Singer 3 Finalist
Shaun Smith 17 Singing Singer 2 Finalist
Stavros Flatley 13 & 40 Dance Dance Duo 3 Finalist
Sue Son 24 Music Electric Violinist 1 Eliminated
Sugar Free 16–23 Dance Dance Group 4 Eliminated
Susan Boyle 48 Singing Singer 1 Runner-up
The Barrow Boys 18–27 Dance Dance Trio 3 Eliminated
The Dreambears 29–34 Dance Dance Group 5 Eliminated
  • ^1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series.
  • ^2 The latter value pertains to the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Semi-final summary
Buzzed out | Judges' vote |   Advanced - Public Vote
  Advanced - Judges' Vote |   Eliminated - Judges' Vote |   Eliminated

Semi-final 1 (24 May)
Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result [13]
Cowell Holden Morgan
Diversity 1 Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Sue Son 2 Eliminated
Darth Jackson 3 Eliminated
Natalie Okri 4 Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Julia Naidenko 5 Eliminated
Nick Hell 6 Eliminated
Faces of Disco 7 Eliminated
Susan Boyle 8 Advanced (Won Public Vote)

Semi-final 2 (25 May)
Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result [13]
Cowell Holden Morgan
DJ Talent 1 Eliminated
Merlin Cadogan 2 Eliminated
Hot Honeyz 3 Eliminated
Jamie Pugh 4 Eliminated
Peter Coghlan 5 Eliminated
Gareth Oliver 6 Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Shaun Smith 7 Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Flawless 8 Advanced (Won Public Vote)

Semi-final 3 (26 May)
Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result [13]
Cowell Holden Morgan
Harmony 1 Eliminated
Kay Oresanya 2 Eliminated
Ben and Becky 3 Eliminated
Shaheen Jafargholi 4 Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
The Barrow Boys 5 Eliminated
MD Showgroup 6 Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Floral High Notes 7 Eliminated
Stavros Flatley 8 Advanced (Won Public Vote)

Semi-final 4 (28 May)
Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result [13]
Cowell Holden Morgan
Sugar Free 1 Eliminated
Jackie Prescott and Tippy Toes 2 Eliminated
Callum Francis 3 Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Fred Bowers 4 Eliminated
Brit Chix 5 Eliminated
Julian Smith 6 Advanced (Won Public Vote)
2 Grand 7 Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Fabia Cerra 8 Eliminated

Semi-final 5 (29 May)
Semi-Finalist Order Buzzes and Judges' Vote Result [13]
Cowell Holden Morgan
The Dreambears 1 Eliminated
Good Evans 2 Eliminated
Luke Clements 3 Eliminated
Hollie Steel 4 Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Martin Matcham 5 Eliminated
Aidan Davis 6 Advanced (Won Public Vote)
DCD Seniors 7 Eliminated
Greg Pritchard 8 Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)

Final (30 May)
  Winner |   Runner-up
Finalist Order Result [13]
Flawless 1 8th
Shaheen Jafargholi 2 7th
Aidan Davis 3 5th
2 Grand 4 10th
Hollie Steel 5 6th
Stavros Flatley 6 4th
Shaun Smith 7 9th
Susan Boyle 8 2nd
Diversity 9 1st
Julian Smith 10 3rd

Ratings
Main article: List of Britain's Got Talent episodes
Episode Air Date Total Viewers
(millions) [14]		 ITV1
Weekly rank [14]		 Viewer Share
Auditions 1 11 April 11.21 1 45.1% [15]
Auditions 2 18 April 12.95 1 50.6% [16]
Auditions 3 25 April 13.21 1 52.3% [17]
Auditions 4 2 May 11.30 1 47.2% [18]
Auditions 5 9 May 11.98 1 48.4% [19]
Auditions 6 16 May 11.09 1 41.0% [20]
Auditions 7 23 May 12.62 2 51.1% [21]
Semi-final 1 24 May 12.93 1 49.2% [22]
Semi-final 2 25 May 14.66 3 51.6% [23]
Semi-final 3 26 May 13.56 5 49.9% [24]
Semi-final 4 28 May 13.11 6 51.2% [25]
Semi-final 5 29 May 13.84 4 57.3% [26]
Live final 30 May 16.36 2 71% [27]
Live final results 18.29 1 67.6%[27]

Criticism & incidents

The third series saw Britain's Got Talent face criticism for the involvement of burlesque dancer Fabia Cerra. The primary concern of the complaints that were raised were over the unsuitable nature of her performance being shown on a programme aimed at a family audience. Although Ofcom investigated the matter, ITV argued in their defence that production staff had done their utmost to edit all footage to censor all inappropriate scenes of her audition, making use of editing to avoid showing anything that would breach the regulator's broadcasting codes.[28]

However, the involvement of Susan Boyle required greater attention from the programme's staff, most particularly in the live rounds as she grew in fame with her performances. Media attention on Boyle that brought forth a number of questionable claims, forced the finalist to check into the Priory psychiatric clinic in London to recover,[29] leaving producers the task of ensuring she had privacy from the continual media intrusion into her private life. The increasing amount of attention from the general public, over her care and well being,[30][31] led to the producers asking for assistance from the Press Complaints Commission, who issued instructions to press editors to adhere firmly to the code of press conduct in regards to its rules on privacy - this included not allowing unauthorised photography to take place and respecting Boyle's entitlement to privacy while she recovered from her involvement in the programme.[32][33]

References
  1. Leigh Holmwood (14 April 2009). "Britain's got talent hits high note,'". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  2. "10 Years of BGT: Top Ten memorable moments". www.itv.com. 16 March 2019.
  3. Moore, Matthew (14 January 2009). "Kelly Brook named Britain's Got Talent judge". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  4. "TV – News – Brook confirmed for 'Britain's Got Talent'". Digital Spy. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  5. "TV – News – Brook axed from 'Britain's Got Talent'". Digital Spy. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  6. "Talent show singer is online hit, BBC". BBC News. 15 April 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  7. Sadie Gray Last updated 7 January 2012 1:16 pm (29 March 2010). "Singing Talent of Susan Boyle Stuns Simon Cowell, Times of London". The Times. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  8. "An unlikely star brings smiles to views, NBC Nightly News". MSNBC. Archived from the original on 7 December 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  9. "Le Monde – Susan Boyle, chanteuse en herbe et vedette sur le Web". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  10. "L'Express – Susan Boyle, la révélation de "Britain's got talent"". L'Express (in French). Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  11. "Le Figaro – La gloire surprise de Susan Boyle". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  12. "Britain's Got Talent – your 40 semi-finalists revealed | STV Entertainment". Entertainment.stv.tv. 23 May 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  13. "Diversity "gobsmacked" by UK TV talent show win - Yahoo! Canada News". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  14. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  15. "TV – News – Huge audiences for 'Talent', 'Who'". Digital Spy. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  16. "TV – News – 'Talent' climbs to 11.9 million". Digital Spy. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  17. "'Talent' appeals to 12.2 million". Digital Spy. 27 April 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  18. "Latest 'Talent' pulls in 10.5 million". Digital Spy. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  19. "'Got Talent' back up to 11.1 million". Digital Spy. 11 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  20. "7.8 million tune in for Eurovision". Digital Spy. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  21. "'Talent', 'Primeval' help ITV1 win Saturday". Digital Spy. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  22. Susan Boyle shows 13.6m she's Got Talent Archived 1 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  23. "Latest 'Talent' peaks with 15.4 million". Digital Spy. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  24. "12.8 million tune in for third 'Talent' semi". Digital Spy. 27 May 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  25. "TV – News – 'Talent' boosts ITV News to 6.1m". Digital Spy. 29 May 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  26. "TV – News – Friday 'Talent' pulls in 13.1 million". Digital Spy. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  27. "TV – News – 'Talent' final peaks with 19.2 million". Digital Spy. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  28. "Britain's Got Talent burlesque stripper prompts dozens of complaints to Ofcom". The Guardian. 15 April 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  29. "Boyle favourite for Talent finale". BBC News. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  30. "Talent star Boyle taken to clinic". BBC News. 1 June 2009.
  31. Jamieson, Alastair (3 June 2009). "Susan Boyle could be in Priory clinic for weeks, says doctor". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 24 May 2009.
  32. Brook, Stephen (3 June 2009). "Susan Boyle: press warned to back off Britain's Got Talent star". The Guardian. London.
  33. Editors Code of Practice
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