Britain's Got Talent: Crying isn't a talent, it's proof the stress is too much

By Remote Control on May 29, 09 10:19 PM

Simon Cowell seized control. Amanda Holden rush to comfort and Piers Morgan was full of warm words. Yes, Hollie Steel made it through to the final of Britain's Got Talent in the most dramatic fashion and you'll either agree with the next sentence or think I'm very mean towards weeping little girls.

Here's the point of Britain's Got Talent. If you're a good performer, you go far. To be a good performer, you need to put on a good performance. To put on a good performance as a singer, you have to remember the words.

Would Shaun Smith have been given a second chance if he'd forgotten his words? Would the grandfather/granddaughter combo we witnessed last night have been given another go if either had stumbled over a few words?

Yes, I know Hollie is only 10. And it was very nice of Simon to give her another go (but only after they'd made her cry even more by saying they didn't have enough time for another go) but really, what if the same happens tomorrow night?

It does rather beg an interesting question: Is Britain's Got Talent the right place for a young child to perform? It was obviously too much for Hollie, and we saw Natalie Okri weeping when she failed to get the judges' backing on Sunday night.

Even tonight, with that rather odd singing family from Coventry, Good Evans, the judges struggled to criticise a rather average performance because there were two little girls in the family.

So we have judges fearful of being over critical of children for fear of upsetting them and youngsters not able to cope with the pressure - and lets face it, the pressure of performing in front of several million people must be like nothing they have every experienced before.

Even the grand-daughter in Two Grand was struggling for words when she got through. And I can't help but think the pressure all round has produced some distinctly average performances this week. Or maybe they were just distinctly average in the first place. But then again, even Susan Boyle, for example, appears to have gone mad (or madder) this week, as the pressure creeps in.

Of course, there are exceptions. Aidan Davis was superb tonight and is rightly through to the final - in many ways, the fact George Sampson returned to perform last night worked in his favour because Aidan simply eclipsed him tonight. He appears to be able to cope with the pressure, but he's very, very confident anyway.

So do we ban children from Britain's Got Talent? It'll never happen, but perhaps when considering talent, the producers also need to consider ability to cope under pressure too.