Britain's Got Talent series 9

The ninth series of the British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 31 May 2015. The series saw the "Wildcard" format introduced in the sixth series being modified in this series to include a "Public Wildcard" – like the "Judges' Wildcard" any act eliminated in the semi-finals, primarily those that lost out in the Judges' vote, could be reinstated by the public, based on the one that received the most votes from them before the final. Although speculations and rumours began to emerge after the previous series ended, claiming that some of the judges would be leaving before the ninth series,[1][2] these were later dismissed as being unfounded by ITV, on 16 January 2015.[3]

Britain's Got Talent
Series 9
Presented byAnt & Dec (ITV)
Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)
JudgesDavid Walliams
Alesha Dixon
Amanda Holden
Simon Cowell
WinnerJules O'Dwyer & Matisse
Runner-upJamie Raven
Release
Original networkITV
ITV2 (BGMT)
Original release11 April (2015-04-11) –
31 May 2015 (2015-05-31)
Series chronology
← Previous
Series 8
Next →
Series 10
List of episodes
Judges for Britain's Got Talent Series 9

The ninth series was won by dog tricks duo Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse, with magician Jamie Raven finishing in second place and Welsh choir Côr Glanaethwy third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.9 million viewers. The ninth series saw the programme have to answer allegations of animal cruelty against a ventriloquist, while the producers caused controversy over the handling of O'Dwyer's performance in the final that Ofcom later ruled to have been misleading following complaints by viewers.[4]

Series overview

Following open auditions held the previous year between October and December,[5] the Judges' auditions took place between January and February 2015, within Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London.,[6] Unlike previous years, where a guest judge had to stand-in for another, no issues occurred that caused a member of the judging panel to be absent, while the auditions were held in a more standard manner for this year, though with the "Golden Buzzer" format remaining part of them since its introduction to the show in the previous series.

Of the participants that took part, forty-five made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals – of these acts, dance troupe Boyband, singer Calum Scott, choir Revelation Avenue, dance act Entity Allstars, and comedy singer Lorraine Bowen, each received a golden buzzer during their auditions – with nine appearing in each one. In a minor change to the show's "Wildcard act" format, the series saw the introduction of the "Public Wildcard". Like the "Judges' wildcard", if a semi-finalist was eliminated in their semi-final at the Judges' vote, they became eligible to be picked as a wildcard act by the public, who would vote on which one they would like to reinstate into the final once all the semi-finals had been aired, with their choice being the one to have received the most votes by the time the final was due to be aired. While the Public Wildcard was extreme martial artist Jesse-Jane McParland, who lost out in the tied Judges' vote in the final semi-final, the Judges' Wildcard for this series was dance troupe Boyband, who lost the Judges' vote in the fourth semi-final. As a result, it led to a total of twelve acts taking part in the series' final.

The below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

  Winner |   Runner-up |   Finalist |   Semi-finalist
Judges' Wildcard Finalist | Public Wildcard Finalist | Golden Buzzer Audition
ParticipantAge(s) 1GenreActSemi-finalResult
Alison Jiear50SingingSinger2Eliminated
Andrew Fleming51ComedyImpressionist1Eliminated
Beat Brothers19–23DanceTap Dance Group5Eliminated
Becky O'Brien34SingingSinger1Eliminated
Billy & Emily England28 & 25DangerRollerskating Duo1Eliminated
Bonetics17Acrobatics / DanceContortionist Dancer2Eliminated
Boyband 17–19DanceDance Group4Finalist
Calum Scott 26SingingSinger5Finalist
Chloe Louise Crawford27MagicIllusionist5Eliminated
Côr Glanaethwy7–65SingingChoir1Finalist
Danny Posthill28ComedyImpressionist5Finalist
Dylan Byrd17DanceHip Hop Dancer3Eliminated
Ella Shaw18SingingSinger3Eliminated
Emma Jones23SingingOpera Singer5Eliminated
Entity Allstars 10–15DanceStreet Dance Group1Finalist
Gracie Wickens-Sweet11SingingSinger3Eliminated
Groove Thing7–11DanceDance Group2Eliminated
Henry Gallagher12Singing / MusicSinger & Guitarist1Eliminated
IMD Legion9–17DanceStreet Dance Group3Eliminated
Isaac Waddington15Singing / MusicSinger & Pianist4Finalist
Jamie Raven31MagicClose Up Magician3Runner-Up
Jeffrey Drayton73MagicEntertainer4Eliminated
Jesse-Jane McParland 9AcrobaticsMartial Artist5Finalist
Jonathan Lutwyche15DanceContemporary Dancer5Eliminated
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse49 & 7 2AnimalsDog Act2Winner
Lisa Sampson35VarietyHula Hoop Artist4Eliminated
Lorraine Bowen 53Singing / MusicSinger & Keyboardist1Eliminated
Luca Calò23Singing / DanceSinger & Dancer2Eliminated
Maia Gough13SingingSinger4Eliminated
Marc Métral61 2Comedy / AnimalsVentriloquist & Dog Act4Eliminated
Michael Late44MagicMagician2Eliminated
Misstasia22–24SingingSinging Group5Eliminated
Mitch & Cally the Wonderdog42 & 10 3AnimalsWorld Record Dog Act1Eliminated
Narinder Dhani43MusicComb Musician3Eliminated
OK Worldwide19–28AcrobaticsAcrobatic Group4Eliminated
Old Men Grooving40–60DanceDance Group2Finalist
Peter Lambert32VarietyCircus Performer5Eliminated
Revelation Avenue 20–30SingingGospel Choir2Eliminated
Ruby Red Performers25–64DanceBurlesque Dance Group1Eliminated
The Honeybuns22–33SingingSinging Group2Eliminated
The Kanneh-Masons9–18MusicOrchestra4Eliminated
The Kingdom Tenors21–31SingingSinging Group3Eliminated
The Neales24–59SingingSinging Group4Finalist
The Sakyi Five10–20SingingBoy Band3Eliminated
UDI19-32DanceElectronic Dance Group3Finalist
  • ^1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series.
  • ^2 The age of the dogs used by Jules O'Dwyer, other than Matisse, and that of the dog used by Marc Metral, were not disclosed during their time on the programme.
  • ^3 The latter value denotes the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Semi-finals summary

Buzzed out | Judges' vote |   Won the public vote
  Won the judges' vote |   Lost the judges' vote |   Eliminated

Semi-final 1 (25 May)

Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteFinished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Entity Allstars1 3rd (Won Judges' vote)
Billy & Emily England27th – Eliminated
Mitch & Cally the Wonderdog35th – Eliminated
Henry Gallagher4 2nd (Lost Judges' vote)
Côr Glanaethwy51st (Won Public vote)
Ruby Red Performers69th – Eliminated
Andrew Fleming7 8th – Eliminated
Becky O'Brien86th – Eliminated
Lorraine Bowen9 4th – Eliminated

Semi-final 2 (26 May)

  • Guest performance: Jack Pack ("Light My Fire")
Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteFinished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Groove Thing14th – Eliminated
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse21st (Won Public vote)
Bonetics35th – Eliminated
Revelation Avenue4 3rd (Judges' vote tied – Lost on Public vote)
The HoneyBuns56th – Eliminated
Michael Late67th – Eliminated
Luca Calò79th – Eliminated
Alison Jiear88th – Eliminated
Old Men Grooving9 2nd (Judges' vote tied – Won on Public vote)

Semi-final 3 (27 May)

Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteFinished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
The Sakyi Five16th – Eliminated
UDI2 2nd (Judges' vote tied – Won on Public vote)
Dylan Byrd38th – Eliminated
Ella Shaw47th – Eliminated
Gracie Wickens-Sweet55th – Eliminated
IMD Legion6 3rd (Judges' vote tied – Lost on Public vote)
Narinder Dhani7 9th – Eliminated
The Kingdom Tenors84th – Eliminated
Jamie Raven91st (Won Public vote)

Semi-final 4 (28 May)

Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteFinished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Ok Worldwide19th – Eliminated
Lisa Sampson27th – Eliminated
The Kanneh-Masons35th – Eliminated
The Neales4 2nd (Won Judges' vote)
Maia Gough56th – Eliminated
Jeffrey Drayton6 8th – Eliminated
Marc Métral74th – Eliminated
Isaac Waddington81st (Won Public vote)
Boyband 49 3rd (Lost Judges' vote)
  • ^4 Boyband were later sent through to the final as the judges' wildcard.

Semi-final 5 (29 May)

Semi-FinalistOrderBuzzes and Judges' VoteFinished [7]
Cowell Holden Dixon Walliams
Beat Brothers16th – Eliminated
Chloe Louise Crawford28th – Eliminated
Peter Lambert39th – Eliminated
Misstasia47th – Eliminated
Jonathan Lutwyche54th – Eliminated
Emma Jones65th – Eliminated
Danny Posthill7 2nd (Judges' vote tied – Won on Public vote)
Jesse-Jane McParland 58 3rd (Judges' vote tied – Lost on Public vote)
Calum Scott91st (Won Public vote)
  • ^5 Jesse-Jane McParland was later sent through to the final as the public's wildcard.

Final (31 May)

  Winner |   Runner-up
FinalistOrderFinished [7]
Entity Allstars111th
UDI210th
The Neales39th
Boyband412th
Jesse-Jane McParland58th
Danny Posthill67th
Calum Scott76th
Côr Glanaethwy83rd
Old Men Grooving94th
Jamie Raven102nd
Isaac Waddington115th
Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse121st

Ratings

EpisodeDateTotal viewers (millions) [8]Weekly rank [8]Share (%)
Auditions 111 April11.25143.2 [9]
Auditions 218 April11.47144.1 [10]
Auditions 325 April11.87146.3 [11]
Auditions 42 May11.73145.0 [12]
Auditions 59 May11.64145.1 [13]
Auditions 616 May11.55147.0 [14]
Auditions 723 May9.35135.2 [15]
Semi-final 125 May10.18337.8 [16]
Semi-final 1 results7.741528.7 [16]
Semi-final 226 May9.341036.8 [17]
Semi-final 2 results7.601631.1 [17]
Semi-final 327 May9.48638.8 [18]
Semi-final 3 results8.091331.7 [18]
Semi-final 428 May9.261137.2 [19]
Semi-final 4 results7.871234.5 [19]
Semi-final 529 May9.51839.2 [20]
Semi-final 5 results7.911432.1 [20]
Live final31 May12.75146.6 [21]


Criticism & controversies

Marc Métral ventriloquism act

In April 2015, following the audition of Marc Métral, several animal rights groups raised complaints that his performance, involving the use of a dog, purported to portraying a form of animal cruelty on television.[22] The routine he used involved his dog wearing a specially designed "ventriloquist mask" – a special device used by ventriloquists on human volunteers, in order to make them into special dummy character for their routines - and was conducted in a similar manner to that of a participant on the seventh series of America's Got Talent in 2012. Métral refuted the claims by stating that he cared deeply for the well-being of his dog,[23] while Simon Cowell refuted the claims a month later, owing to his involvement in dog charities, defending the broadcast of the footage on Twitter by explaining that the audition was allowed to be shown because both himself and the production staff had involved the RSPCA to oversee the welfare of Métral's dog before, during, and after his performance.[24]

Misleading dog act

The ninth series became notable for the controversy surrounding the performance of Jules O'Dwyer, and in particular the routine of her dog tricks act in the final. The nature of the complaint focused on the fact that while O'Dwyer had been clear that her occupation involved training and use multiple dogs for her routines, she hadn't disclosed the fact that she had to use two dogs with similar appearances for the final, as her main dog Matisse was unable to perform a trick involving a tightrope section. When this came to light in an interview the morning after the final on 1 June 2015, Ofcom were forced to launch an investigation after 1,000 complaints were raised by viewers who felt misled by the performance's broadcast.[25][26]

Although no formal action was taken by the programme against O'Dwyer and producers, after Cowell launched his own investigation into the incident,[27][28] an apology had to be issued for the confusion caused by the failure not to disclose this detail as clearly as possible.[29][30] However, on 17 August, Ofcom found in their investigation that while there had been no intention to deceive viewers, both the production staff and ITV were responsible for allowing Britain's Got Talent to mislead people, and ruled that they had breached broadcasting codes that require television and radio programmes to not be misleading and present facts as accurately as possible.[31][32][4][33]

References