THE SUNDAY MIRROR'S article on Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson makes a subtle point which pretty much sums up Britain when it described how viewers got behind him after hearing his hard-luck story.
George, for those of you who have maintained a life in recent weeks rather than be glued to the series, is a dancer. In my opinion, not a particularly good one. He's in his early teens and didn't even make the semi finals last year.
This year, he came back, and Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan remembered him instantly (which is quite remarkable, when you consider the saw 5,000 people last year and 5,000 people this year, but still an unremarkable boy from Warrington stands out).
Cue lots of talk about sheer determination, hard work, and, oh, determination again. His back story is that his mother has scraped together the £15 a week to pay for dance lessons for George, and with each round that went on, his lines such as "that was the best performance of my life" and "if I won't win, this will be the end of my life" appeared to win over the audience.
Now I'm not saying he's not got talent - he's got bucketloads more than many of the people who made it to the semi-finals last week - it's just that against last night's line-up, he was a long way short of being the best.
The routine that won it for him in the final was basically a danced-up version of Singing in The Rain, and he move frantically around the stage like a child who'd have too much squash, the climax of the routine being a dance under a shower. He then does the interview with Ant and Dec dripping wet while drying himself with a towel. All very vulunerable and, to many teenage girls, I dare say, cute. But was it dropding-jaw outstanding, the sort of thing which will make him a star for years to come? No.
If people really are voting because of his back story, or if the back story is proving a tipping point, then Britain's Got Talent has a real problem. Faryl, the 12-year-old from Kettering, did have that absolute wow factor. Here was an absolute slip of a girl who just stunned everyone when she opened her mouth to reveal the most incredible operatic voice.
Then there was Andrew Johnston, the teenage boy bullied because he had a great choir-boy voice. Now did we need to know that he was bullied to be impressed by his voice? No. And then there was Andrew Muir, the plumber from Scotland who could give any of the current crop of male solo artists in the charts a run for their money. Did his act really only work because we'd watch and say "can you believe he's a plumber?" No, he'd have been through to the final anyway.
Signature, the fantastic dance duo who mixed all sorts of genres into one of the few dance acts which actually work on a TV screen, didn't come with a sob story and made into the final three. Strike, the handsome karate duo who admittedly got Amanda Holden's attention by taking their tops off during their routine, got to the final based on doing something unique. No back story - other than the fact they teach kids karate - needed.
And then there was Kate and Gin the Dog, who I actually broke my rule of never voting in one of these programmes to make sure I did my bit to get them into the semi-final, with the fantastic human/canine dance rounte. What do we know about Kate and Gin? Other than the fact they're from Cheshire and adore each other, and are very talented, not very much. But still, she was in the final.
So what is the power of the sob story? Well, it guarantees Prince Charles will have to sit through one of the more inferior finalists performing when the Royal Variety takes place. But what they for George? What does he do then? Is there really a market for a break-dancing teenager? How does Simon Cowell market that? Expect keep fit videos from Strike, lucrative record deals for the two Andrews and Faryl and plenty of appearances and advertising deals for Gin the Dog (Kate will still be there, but will be second fiddle to the dog, something I'm sure she won't be worried about) and a performance deal for Signature. They'll prove to be the real winners in time. As for George, it'll be Simon Cowell's biggest achievement yet if he can turn that act into a moneyspinner.
And next year, please Simon, can we just stick to the acts rather than the sob stories?
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Ralph Stroud wrote...
Couldn't agree more with the comments expressed here.
When the final three were to be announced I sat there smugly saying - Escala, Gin and Faryl Smith. When none of their names were mentioned my jaw was practically in my lap.
I wasn't surprised that Andrew Johnston got through as the word bully or its variants had appeared in every sentence he'd uttered, also the judges had brought it up. And all the time we had sat there saying how unfair this was on the other contestants.
This was at its nauseating worst when that Madonna woman from the Philippines appeared. Not only did we get the weeping Amanda Holden "You were singing that for your babies" rubbish, a picture of the bloody kids kept appearing behind her.
I truly believe that if you have talent - and, to be honest, Andrew Johnston is a very good singer - then you should let the talent do the talking. Stick to the acts rather than the sob stories? I can't agree more
Posted by: Ralph Stroud | June 4, 2008 11:45 PM