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Spoiler: Oops. Britain’s Got Talent final controversy.

Spoiler: Warning this story contains news on the grand final of BGT, currently screening on GO!

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SPOILER: Simon Cowell has said he is “really pissed off, really annoyed” after a controversy surrounding the grand final of Britain’s Got Talent (currently screening in Australia, Thursdays on GO!).

A total of 874 people have complained to media regulator Ofcom and another 130 to ITV after Sunday night’s final saw the winner, Jules O’Dwyer, use a stunt double.

The act involved a dog on a high-rope walk, but a different dog was used for the final because her other dog, Matisse, is afraid of heights.

Simon Cowell dubbed it a “cock-up” but said there is no need to refund angry viewers’ phone vote money despite complaints hitting more than 1,000.

Cowell said he was “really pissed off, really annoyed” by the incident in which the show’s winner, Jules O’Dwyer, used a lookalike dog for a high-rope walk.

Cowell said viewers should have been told that it was a different dog doing the act but said no one intended to “cheat or deceive” viewers.

“The moment I found out I literally put my head in my hands. I spoke to a lot of people after, and I did raise my voice. But it was mainly people owning up to it,” he said.

“They felt embarrassed, they felt frustrated, they felt stupid but you’ve got to man up to this stuff.

“The producers are absolutely gutted. I was so depressed for the show, for Jules and for the producers themselves, because they are not horrible people. They didn’t think how it would appear.

Media watchdog Ofcom is currently deciding whether to launch an investigation into the show.

Source: The Guardian

5 Responses

  1. “Stunt double” isn’t the right phrase as that implies something completely different. The dog used for that particular sequence was another dog trained by the winner who had featured previously on stage as part of the semi-final routine.

    It really is a none story though – just as viewers weren’t informed this dog did the tightrope trick they weren’t informed otherwise either – people just assumed they had. Also the act wasn’t about a dog doing tricks – each performance was a story and all this did was facilitate the story. In hindsight perhaps the other dog should have come out on the end but still a very worthy winner – far more worthy than the rubbish magician in 2nd place who stuffed up a trick done many times before.

  2. Do you mean to say this winning performer didn’t change his clothes or didn’t change his act with different tricks each time he came back? Hats off to him for having a well planned act and winning! After all, it’s the human who is the act here. He’s the one who applied and trained the dog – well trained more than one dog as it appears, which proves my point even more so.

  3. My God, a stunt double in a talent show! De-throne the winner and move 2nd up to 1st. You’ll now have to watch to discover who came 2nd. What next, judging the rehearsal instead of the performance!

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