Front Row Dress Circle

While I really congratulate Hollie Steel for successfully completing her song on the second attempt I feel that it was totally wrong, and unfair on all the other contestants, that she was chosen over Greg Pritchard to go through to the final tomorrow night. Had any other performer foundered during their act they would have been buzzed without hesitation.

The judges re-wrote the rule book of any talent contest – you should be judged on your performance on a professional basis. Greg Pritchard got his performance right the first time – Hollie did well on her second attempt in a squeaky-voiced way, but it was not a showstopping performance and it should not have qualified her to win over another contestant who got it right the first time. Let’s say to hell with it and admit Greg Pritchard to the final tomorrow night anyway!

So, if someone stuffs up tomorrow night do they also get a second chance…?

Like I said, well done to Hollie – but the result tonight is not a fair one by a long shot.

Popularity: 41% [?]

You had to feel just a little sorry for little Hollie Steel tonight as she crumbled under the pressure of singing in the live semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent.

Singing ‘Edelweiss’ - in a key that was too high for the child – she was clearly uncomfortable with the song and I would like to bet that the song was chosen for her by Producers of the show. ‘Edelweiss’ is not a song designed to win a semi-final!

Several contestants have claimed that they were stopped from singing the songs of their choice by the show’s Producers. Ten year old semi-finalist Natalie Okri complained that she was not allowed to sing her choice of song and another was chosen for her – the judges criticised her for this and the song she sang was all wrong for her.

Breaking down into tears mid-song Hollie was comforted by And and Dec with Amanda Holden approaching the stage. Hollie and her Mum requested the chance to start the song again but this was refused by Simon Cowell.

Hollie; this is showbusiness – it is high pressure and your nerves can often get to you. We do not know at this stage if other factors caused Hollie to not be able to complete her song, but I have to wonder if this child is taking part completely of her own free will…

It was uncomfortable viewing to say the least.

And a few minutes later the show went on for Hollie…

Hollie returned to sing her song and completed it like a little trooper. The song was all wrong for her in my opinion, it was pitched too high, but she carried it off and – Hollie – that’s the way it is done in showbiz. Well done little lady!

Popularity: 40% [?]

Things have gone from bad to worse for Susan Boyle this past week and the poor woman has been so harrassed she has even considered retiring from the final of Britain’s Got Talent tomorrow night.

This poor woman has been built up so much that she is having trouble coping with the pressure; now ‘Ms Plastic-Fantastic’ Demi Moore is jumping on the bandwagon and will be a guest in the audience tomorrow night in support of Susan. ” The world is rooting for you! ” she is reported to have told Susan – I am sure she needed to hear that like she needed an extra set of eyebrows. And I am pretty darn sure the other contestants – who have every right to believe they have just as much chance of winning – will be feeling a little anxious about how much public support there is left for them…

Susan Boyle is not a ‘one-off’; just visit any church hall on choir practice night in any village around the UK and you will meet thousands of Susan Boyles’. But there are no Simon Cowell’s wandering around rural England offering to make any of them a star. The feeling I have is that tomorrow night’s ‘Susan Boyle Show’ could be just that; she will have the public sympathy – a very patronising public sympathy in my view – and they will vote for her in droves. The trouble is with all this pressure and public tantrums this week her performance could go either way. Most other contestants would thrive on such intense media and public scrutiny, for someone like Susan it is too much.

I suggest there be a total 24 hour media-blackout on reporting anything about Susan prior to the Final tomorrow night, just to give the woman a break. A break for her from reading who is saying what about her and from those scum journalist hacks who have been deliberately needling her in public just to see how quickly she cracks.

Because the cracks in this sweet woman have already started to show…

Popularity: 21% [?]