One Horse Race

For many weeks people have been predicting that Susan Boyle is going to win Britain’s Got Talent. She has had millions of people watching her performances on Youtube and has been featured in and discussed by media outlets across the world. Now my question I pose today is: Is it worth taking part in a competition which is seen as a one horse race?

With each semi final with only two going through from eight I think most acts are already thinking before they perform that they will be going out. This year more than ever I think they have put through novelty acts or strange acts just to make interesting TV and create media attention and unlike with previous seasons I think the audience at home has known as well as the acts themselves that they aren’t going to go through which I feel spoils it a little.

The way the semi finals are devised are unfair I think as so far all we have had go through our singing and dance acts when the show is suppose to be about variety. I think they should do a night for dance acts, a night for singers and so on so that in the final you get a good mix of talents. Also there should be less semi-finals as semi-finals in competitions usually means the final four or two matches when it comes to sport not five rounds of eight people.

As previous acts who haven’t won Britain’s Got Talent have proved you don’t have to win the competition to be a success like Faryl Williams and Escala for instance who have both released albums. So just because you know you aren’t going to win doesn’t make it a worthless exercise as with the right help and support you can turn your five minutes of fame in to a career or at the very least use the publicity to help get you gigs and to help promote yourself. I am sure lots of entertainers will be putting “As seen on Britain’s Got Talent” on their tour posters soon.

The thing with one horse races is that the voting public like their vote to make a difference and count so sometimes if a voter thinks that someone is going to win the competition with or without their vote they may vote for another act or some will vote against the favourite just to go against the grain. For an example of favourites not winning just look at last week’s American Idol where clear favourite Adam Lambert was beaten by the underdog Kris Allen.

I think Simon needs to be careful with Britain’s Got Talent as when it started it seemed to be about showcasing variety and a competition where anyone could win but now with every year the show to me just seems more and more like just a launchpad for Simon Cowell to showcase his latest star.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com