Magician Richard Jones has won Britain’s Got Talent 2016.
The army bandsman beat off singer Wayne Woodward who came in second place and
Boggie Storm who came in third following over two and half million votes
from the public.
Looking gobsmacked the 25-year-old, who performed a trick involving a war
veteran this evening, said: “I can’t believe it. Thank you so much to
everyone who voted. I want to thank my family, I want to thank Fergus, I
want to thank the Magic Circle and the whole community.
“They’ve been absolutely fantastic and everyone’s been so supportive.
Thank you to everyone here and everyone at home watching. It means the world
to me.”
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Wayne,
who was rushed to hospital earlier this week, was very gracious about
coming second.
He said: “Thank you it has been an amazing experience, I have met some amazing
people. I hope to see a lot more of you.”
Simon, who gave Boogie storm his golden buzzer, praised the Storm Troopers who
came in third place, saying. : “I am very proud of you guys, girls, things,
aliens, whatever you are.”
Competition was tough between the 12 contestants on Saturday evening – and
young singers Jasmine and Beau Dermott also amazed the audience with
effortless performances of True Colours and Defying Gravity respectively.
However it was not enough to help them reach the top three Beau came in 5th
while Jasmine came in firth,
Alex Magala came a surprising 9th place, whilst 100 Voices of Gospel placed
only one above him in the leaderboard.
Singing impressionist Craig Ball came in 6th while Trip Hazard came in 7th.
Shannon and Peter came in at number 11 and Mel and Jamie came in 12th place.
Earlier in the evening Richard had left Alesha Dixon and viewers at home in
tears as he told the story of a 97-year-old war veteran with a card trick.
Mixing both his passions – the army and magic – he described Fergus Anckorn’s
life, revealing he was a survivor of the Thai-Burma Death Railway and also a
magician.
When the trick reached its culmination the curtain on stage lifted to reveal
the 97-year-old war hero and Richard’s army band.
Overcome with emotion Alesha, who gave him a standing ovation, gushed: “Oh my
goodness, Richard – that was so incredible, poignant, noble, brilliantly
British – I just loved everything about that.”
Amanda was also a fan, in particular of Fergus, who she cheekily tried to set
up with her nan.
She joked: “My grandmother is 95 and single and in the audience if you want to
meet in the bar afterwards – she’s right there.”
Richard, who is favourite to win the show, was inundated with messages of
supported from those watching the show at home.
“@BGT #BGTFinal #richardjones I’m still crying!!! You make me so proud to be
British!! Thank you for sharing the amazing story of Fergus xx,” wrote one.
Another tweeted: “Wow crying at #richardjones @BGT how wonderful #BGTFinal.”
While someone else remarked: “Think Richard Jones has played his way into the
hearts of the nation tonight, especially having a war hero at the end of it
#BGTFinal #bgt.”
Meanwhile, some of the show’s best known contestants returned to commemorate
ten years of the talent show. Curated by Diversity’s Ashley Banjo, the
performance began with Jamie Raven asking fans of the show to always “expect
the unexpected” and believe “anything is possible”.
The history of Britain was a clear theme, with Winston Churchill’s famous
speech playing out to the audience. Diversity then appeared on stage, wowing
the audiences once again with their energetic and faultless dance routines.
Former winners Ashley and Pudsey and George Sampson returned to team up with
the dancing troupe whilst Old Men Grooving and Stavros Flatley joined them
in a dance off. Collabro slowed things down with a faultless performance of
‘Stars’ from Les Miserables before they were joined on stage by all the
performers where Ashley Banjo thanked the great British public for 10
incredible years of the show.
The performance clearly left hosts Ant & Dec and judges Amanda Holden,
Simon, David Walliams and Alesha emotional.
Dec said: “That was just the most fantastic thing. Thank you so much for
putting that together Ashley. On behalf of us and the judges and the whole
show, thank you for being [part of] Britain’s Got Talent.”
Whilst Ant added: “That had me in tears at the end, that was absolutely
brilliant.”