Britain's Got Talent 2011: Things can only get better

Britain's Got Talent / Mike Norman / 04 May 2011 / 2

" class="free_bet_btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">

Razy Gogonea performing a jaw-dropping move during his audition

"Pip has an extremely good voice and possibly could have provided us with that SuBo, or possibly Paul Potts moment that we’re desperate for."

Three weeks into the auditions and Mike Norman is far from impressed with what we've seen so far, though a couple of Youtube entries have definitely impressed our hard-to-please blogger.

I know exactly what you're all thinking after what you've seen in the last fortnight, "Where's the talent?" Perhaps it was a bit much to expect a SuBo moment, or maybe it's still to come, but so far this year's Britain's Got Talent has been about as exciting as having your teeth pulled.

Not one act blew me away after the first week of auditions, and the reason I didn't blog after the second week of auditions was because it would have been impossible to write more than two paragraphs about all that was good that week.

But now I've got two weeks of drizzle to rabbit on about, and maybe it's just a bit of a mid-life crisis that I'm experiencing, but I'm still not getting remotely excited!

I mean, take Grace & Ted for example, a 21-year-old attractive blonde (even that's debatable) and her 91-year-old grandfather. Performing If I Were a Rich Man the best part of their act was undoubtedly Ted's charming appeal, and this is where Grace deserves credit. She knew full well that if she'd have performed alone she would have been told she was a club singer at best. Taking her loveable grandfather on stage was a masterstroke; no-one is going to say no to a 91-year-old man and thus the duo got through to the next round - but thankfully, they stand no chance of winning.

Also impressing the judges, but for no apparent reason, were acts like Les Gibson, a 41-year-old impressionist, and 66-year-old singer Herbie Armstrong.

Gibson started off by doing an impression of BGT presenters Ant and Dec, but sounded more like Jimmy Nail and Julian Clary - Dec looking particularly unimpressed backstage. Granted, Gibson's impression of Kevin Webster was on the money, but when you're doing an act of this nature, impersonating five or six famous people of whom just one is instantly recognisable is simply not good enough.

Armstrong meanwhile had to be stopped during his first audition (presumably because his song was about as uplifting as Vanessa Feltz getting a carry from her partner), but he then boringly sung his way through the Van Morrison hit Have I Told You Lately. He was ok, but certainly nothing special and I wouldn't bee too fussed if he didn't make it to the live TV stage of the competition.

So what does that leave us with? Well I suppose seven-year-old Olivia Binfield was fantastic at getting her message across to the world - via poetry and with a huge snake wrapped around her - that endangered species need to be looked after; and 12-year-old Ronan Park - despite being dressed by his parents - was a good singer. And there was also Edward Reid, who changed the words of the Leona Lewis hit Run to accommodate nursery rhymes. Bizarre! But quite frankly, some of the acts shown to date have been pretty awful, which is why BGT's decision to allow Youtube clips into the auditions could well save the day.

And the reason I say that is because in my opinion, the two best acts that we've seen so far are Pip & Puppy and Razy Gogonea - both of whom submitted their auditions by internet.

Now quite why Pip thinks her puppy (Buddy) adds anything to the act is beyond me. Pip has an extremely good voice and possibly could have provided us with that SuBo, or possibly Paul Potts moment that we're desperate for. Pip performed Pie Jesu, the classical song that Andrew Johnston sang in series two, and sounded fantastic. What didn't sound fantastic was her puppy yapping along. I really hope she ditches Buddy for the live semi-finals as she has the potential to go a long way.

Gogonea on the other hand put in a stunning performance that blew the audience away. Breakdancers have been notorious on BGT, but none have been quite as jaw-dropping as the Matrix-style manoeuvres that this guy produced. Given that singers and dancers always go down well with the general public, Gogonea has to be on the early shortlist to win this year's show.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

(2)

chris wilkes | 04 May 2011

Razy did not enter from youtube......
Mike | 05 May 2011

Thanks Chris. Apologies if that's the case. I was under the impression from what ITV said that he had originally submitted an audition via Youtube.

However, I'm happy to go with what you say as at the end of the day it's irrelevant how the acts are found. They all end up on stage in front of the judges regardless of how they enter.

All the best and enjoy the show.