Britain's Got Talent (series 9)


The ninth series of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, began broadcasting in the UK during 2015, from 11 April to 31 May on ITV. The series saw the "Wildcard" format introduced in the sixth series being modified in this series to include a "Public Wildcard" – like the "Judges' Wildcard" any act eliminated in the semi-finals, primarily those that lost out in the Judges' vote, could be reinstated by the public, based on the one that received the most votes from them before the final. Although speculations and rumours began to emerge after the previous series ended, claiming that some of the judges would be leaving before the ninth series, these were later dismissed as being unfounded by ITV, on 16 January 2015.
The ninth series was won by dog tricks duo Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse, with magician Jamie Raven finishing in second place, and Welsh choir Côr Glanaethwy placing third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.9 million viewers. The ninth series saw the programme have to answer allegations of animal cruelty against a ventriloquist, while the producers caused controversy over the handling of O'Dwyer's performance in the final that Ofcom later ruled to have been misleading following complaints by viewers.

Series overview

Following open auditions held the previous year between October to December, the Judges' auditions took place between January and February 2015, within Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London. Unlike previous years, where a guest judge had to stand-in for another, no issues occurred that caused a member of the judging panel to be absent, while the auditions were held in a more standard manner for this year, though with the "Golden Buzzer" format remaining a part of them since its introduction to the show in the previous series.
Of the participants that took part, forty-five made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals – of these acts, dance troupe Boyband, singer Calum Scott, choir Revelation Avenue, dance act Entity Allstars, and comedy singer Lorraine Bowen, each received a golden buzzer during their auditions – with nine appearing in each one. In a minor change to the show's "Wildcard act" format, the series saw the introduction of the "Public Wildcard". Like the "Judges' wildcard", if a semi-finalist was eliminated in their semi-final at the Judges' vote, they became eligible to be picked as a wildcard act by the public, who would vote on which one they would like to reinstate into the final once all the semi-finals had been aired, with their choice being the one to have received the most votes by the time the final was due to be aired. While the Public Wildcard was extreme martial artist Jesse-Jane McParland, who lost out in the tied Judges' vote in the final semi-final, the Judges' Wildcard for this series was dance troupe Boyband, who lost the Judges' vote in the fourth semi-final. As a result, it led to a total of twelve acts taking part in the series' final.
The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:
ParticipantAge GenreActSemi-finalResult
Alison Jiear50SingingSinger2
Andrew Fleming51ComedyImpressionist1
Beat Brothers19–23DanceTap Dance Group5
Becky O'Brien34SingingSinger1
Billy and Emily England28, 25DangerExtreme Roller Skating Duo1
Bonetics17Variety / DancingContortionist Dancer2
Boyband 17–19DanceDance Troupe4'
Calum Scott 26SingingSinger5'
Chloe Louise Crawford27MagicIllusionist5
Côr Glanaethwy7–65SingingChoir1'
Danny Posthill28ComedyImpressionist5'
Dylan Byrd17DanceDancer3
Ella Shaw18Singing / MusicSinger & Pianist3
Emma Jones23SingingOpera Singer5
Entity Allstars 10–15DanceStreet Dance Troupe1'
Gracie Wickens-Sweet11SingingSinger3
Groove Thing7–11DanceDance Troupe2
Henry Gallagher12SingingSinger & Guitarist1
IMD Legion9–17DanceStreet Dance Troupe3
Isaac Waddington15SingingSinger & Pianist4'
Jamie Raven31MagicClose-up Magician3'
Jeffrey Drayton73MagicEntertainer4
Jesse-Jane McParland 9DangerExtreme Martial Artist5'
Jonathan Lutwyche15DanceContemporary Dancer5
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse49, 7 AnimalsDog Tricks Act2'
Lisa Sampson35VarietyHula-Hoop Artist4
Lorraine Bowen 53Singing / MusicSinger & Keyboardist1
Luca Calo23DanceDancer2
Maia Gough13SingingSinger4
Marc Metral61 Comedy / AnimalsVentriloquist Dog Act4
Michael Late44MagicIllusionist2
Misstasia22–24SingingGirl Group5
Mitch & Cally the Wonderdog42, 10 Animals / VarietyWorld Record Attempting Dog Trick Act1
Narinder Dhani43Variety / MusicComb Musician3
OK Worldwide19–28AcrobaticsAcrobatic Troupe4
Old Men Grooving40–60DanceDance Troupe2'
Peter Lambert32VarietyCircus Performer5
Revelation Avenue 20–30SingingGospel Choir2
Ruby Red Performers25–64DanceBurlesque Dance Troupe1
The Honeybuns22–33SingingGirl Group2
The Kanneh-Masons9–18Music / VarietyClassical Band4
The Kingdom Tenors21–31SingingVocal Harmony Group3
The Neales24–59SingingVocal Group4'
The Sakyi Five10–20SingingBoyband3
UDI19-32DanceElectronic Light Dance Troupe3'

Semi-final 1 (25 May)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Ricky Martin

Semi-final 2 (26 May)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Jack Pack

Semi-final 3 (27 May)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Alesha Dixon

Semi-final 4 (28 May)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Olly Murs
Guest performers, Results Show: Collabro
Guest Performers, Results Show: Andrea Bocelli, and Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance
FinalistOrderActFinished
Entity Allstars1Street Dance Troupe11th
UDI2Electronic Light Dancers10th
The Neales3Vocal Harmony Group9th
Boyband4Dance Group12th
Jesse-Jane McParland5Extreme Martial Artist8th
Danny Posthill6Impressionist7th
Calum Scott7Singer6th
Côr Glanaethwy8Choir3rd
Old Men Grooving9Dance Group4th
Jamie Raven10Close-up Magician2nd
Isaac Waddington11Singer And Pianist5th
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse12Dog Trick Act1st

Ratings


EpisodeDateTotal viewers Weekly rankShare
Auditions 111 April11.25143.2
Auditions 218 April11.47144.1
Auditions 325 April11.87146.3
Auditions 42 May11.73145.0
Auditions 59 May11.64145.1
Auditions 616 May11.55147.0
Auditions 723 May9.35135.2
Semi-final 125 May10.18337.8
Semi-final 1 results25 May7.741528.7
Semi-final 226 May9.341036.8
Semi-final 2 results26 May7.601631.1
Semi-final 327 May9.48638.8
Semi-final 3 results27 May8.091331.7
Semi-final 428 May9.261137.2
Semi-final 4 results28 May7.871234.5
Semi-final 529 May9.51839.2
Semi-final 5 results29 May7.911432.1
Live final31 May12.75146.6

Criticism & controversies

Marc Métral ventriloquism act

In April 2015, following the audition of Marc Métral, several animal rights groups raised complaints that his performance, involving the use of a dog, purported to portraying a form of animal cruelty on television. The routine he used involved his dog wearing a specially designed "ventriloquist mask" – a special device used by ventriloquists on human volunteers, in order to make them into special dummy character for their routines - and was conducted in a similar manner to that of a participant on the seventh series of America's Got Talent in 2012. Métral refuted the claims by stating that he cared deeply for the well-being of his dog, while Simon Cowell refuted the claims a month later, owing to his involvement in dog charities, defending the broadcast of the footage on Twitter by explaining that the audition was allowed to be shown because both himself and the production staff had involved the RSPCA to oversee the welfare of Métral's dog before, during, and after his performance.

Misleading dog act

The ninth series became notable for the controversy surrounding the performance of Jules O'Dwyer, and in particular the routine of her dog tricks act in the final. The nature of the complaint focused on the fact that while O'Dwyer had been clear that her occupation involved training and use multiple dogs for her routines, she hadn't disclosed the fact that she had to use two dogs with similar appearances for the final, as her main dog Matisse was unable to perform a trick involving a tightrope section. When this came to light in an interview the morning after the final on 1 June 2015, Ofcom were forced to launch an investigation after 1,000 complaints were raised by viewers who felt misled by the performance's broadcast.
Although no formal action was taken by the programme against O'Dwyer and producers, after Cowell launched his own investigation into the incident, an apology had to be issued for the confusion caused by the failure not to disclose this detail as clearly as possible. However, on 17 August, Ofcom found in their investigation that while there had been no intention to deceive viewers, both the production staff and ITV were responsible for allowing Britain's Got Talent to mislead people, and ruled that they had breached broadcasting codes that require television and radio programmes to not be misleading and present facts as accurately as possible.