Dec Donnelly causes outrage as he describes girl band as ‘touchable’ during Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals
The 40-year-old BGT host raised eyebrows with his ill-judged comment
DECLAN Donnelly has raised eyebrows by describing the girl group Zyrah Rose as “touchable”.
The Britain’s Got Talent host made the comments about the band after Simon Cowell had branded them “untouchable” while critiquing their performance.
Defending the girls, Dec gushed: "They don’t look untouchable to me – in fact they look very touchable to me."
While his co-host Ant seemed to find it rather amusing, the comment didn’t go unmissed by viewers at home, who were left gobsmacked at his choice of words.
“What on Earth did Dec just say about Zyrah Rose?! If we have to be fixated on their looks, lets not announce how touchable they are... #BGT,” asked one.
Another remarked: “We don't need another presenter desperate to touch girls/women/boys/men #BGT.”
While someone else said: “Well, we all know what Dec's been doing during this ad break... #BGT2016 #BGT.”
The group – who arrived on stage wearing stunning gold dresses – impressed with their version of Adele’s Set Fire To The Rain.
However the group - made up of Christine (25), Kara (28), Charlotte (28) and Emily (29) still failed to win Simon Cowell round fully.
Following their performance he told them: "You sounded really good, particularly as the track picked up in the middle. I personally think that there is a slight image issue with you which is making you look a little bit untouchable."
David interjected and asked: "Why is that a bad thing?"
"I’ll tell you why. You are caviar and a lot of people like spaghetti bolognaise. So we have to turn you into spaghetti bolognaise that can sing," he replied.
Amid lots of booing Alesha argued: "It’s not that they're beautiful", while David joked: "I think they are like a lovely lasagne".
It comes after their first audition, when they sang Ed Sheeran’s I See Fire, and the music mogul blasted them saying: “I have some criticism. There was no interaction between any of you. You were like four statues singing, which means you’re left, like I was, a bit cold”.
David was more impressed though, telling them: “You’re four beautiful girls with fantastic voices. Fantastic version of that song, which was really unexpected. I think there is real potential for you to do really well”.
The girls – whose day jobs include being dance teacher, a teacher and a waitress – certainly seemed to have upped their game for the semi-final.
Speaking before their first audition, they said: “We were signed by a label and they dropped us. There was disappointment there but we want to stay as a group, we don’t want to break up.”