Britain’s Got Talent’s finalist lineup has been criticised by GB News presenter Bev Turner after Sydnie Christmas was crowned the winner this weekend.
The British singer bagged the £250,000 prize and a spot on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance after beating magicians, impressionists and dancers to the top.
However, Bev pointed out the “bizarre” amount of non-British acts in the final with over 50 per cent of the ten finalists either not born British or not living in the UK.
Discussing the show, Bev said it “does matter” that the line up was overly non-British, despite a British act winning.
Bev Turner has hit out at the lack of British acts in Britain’s Got Talent’s final
ITV / GB News
In conversation with commentator Sarah Vine, Bev highlighted: “Five of the last in the final, were not British born or even lived here.”
Vine responded: “And they call it Britain’s Got Talent? It’s bizarre, isn’t it. I always think of it as a kind of competition for sort of enthusiastic amateurs.”
Criticising the winner of the show, Vine claimed that Sydnie Christmas “already has a career in music”, and Britain’s Got Talent is “no longer normal people having a go”.
She added: “I’m sure she’s very good, this girl, but the joy of it was that people came on and they were completely out of tune. But it now it’s much slicker.”
Britain’s Got Talent’s final acts included several non-British performers
X / BGT
Bev agreed, and highlighted the key “difference between the British public and the people on the telly”.
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Bev fumed: “The judges do not notice this lack of British involvement in it, or at least if they do notice, they’re not saying anything about it.
“But the viewers noticed the imbalance, and just four of the foreign acts made it through to the final in the end. Possibly too many.”
Highlighting the patriotic protest in London on the same day, Bev continued: “People would say we are feeling the need to walk on the streets of this country because we no longer feel we can assert our British identity.
“And that’s the distinction between the people who are running a programme like Britain’s Got Talent, the judges who are sat there. No one’s mentioning the elephant in the room. And then there are people having to go out and protest to say can we sing Rule Britannia and wave a flag?”
Sarah Vine suggested that the show should introduce parameters to restrict ‘non-British’ acts from entering
GB News
Andrew noted the Korean act in the show’s lineup, and how they had previously won another of Simon Cowell’s shows in their country.
He revealed: “If you live in South Korea and work in South Korea, why are you in Britain’s Got Talent? They won Simon Cowell’s show in South Korea, so they can come over here.
“What would happen if somebody who wasn’t British, who lived in South Korea won it? That would cause quite a stick.”
Vine agreed and said the show should introduce “parameters” to make sure more British acts progress to the latter stages of the show.
She told GB News: “If you’re gonna call it Britain’s Got Talent, you’ve gotta say these are the list of things that you have to have in order to qualify to enter. And one of them is that you have to be British.”