Britain's Got Talent (series 11)

The eleventh series of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, began broadcasting in the UK during 2017, from 15 April to 3 June on ITV; because the One Love Manchester concert was to take place on 4 June, the live final was brought forward a day to avoid clashing with it.[1][2] Following the closure of Fountain Studios the previous year, the live episodes were broadcast from Elstree Studios.[3] The change in location allowed for a revamp of the studio used by both the main programme and its sister show, Britain's Got More Talent.[4]

Britain's Got Talent
Series 11
Presented by	Anthony McPartlin (ITV) Declan Donnelly (ITV) Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)
Judges	Simon Cowell Amanda Holden Alesha Dixon David Walliams
Winner	Tokio Myers
Runner-ups	Issy Simpson Daliso Chaponda
Release
Original network	ITV ITV2 (BGMT)
Original release	15 April – 3 June 2017
Series chronology

For the first time in eleven years, this series featured no judges' vote for each semi final - instead the acts getting the highest and second-highest tally of public votes would move on to the live final;[5] after the series' conclusion, Cowell admitted that he disliked this format change.[6] In addition to the judges not voting for an act, the Public Wildcard format was dropped from the show, while the number of acts making it into the semi-finals was reduced to 40, returning to the original semi-final format used prior to the sixth series.

The eleventh series was won by musician Tokio Myers, with magician Issy Simpson finishing in second place and comedian Daliso Chaponda in third place.[7] During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.1 million viewers.

Series overview

Following open auditions held the previous year between October to December,[8] the Judges' audition took place between January and February 2017, within Blackpool, London, Birmingham and Salford.[9] Along with discontinuing the use of the Public wildcard format, production staff changed the rules to suspend the use of the Judges' vote - the change meant that the voting system would be purely conducted by a public vote, with the semi-finalists receiving the highest and second-highest tally of votes respectively automatically securing a place in the live final. This change in format was not announced until 27 May 2017;[5] on 5 June, following the conclusion of the eleventh series, Cowell admitted he disliked this change and had production staff informed it would not be used for the next series.[6]

Of the participants that took part, only forty made it into the five live semi-finals - of these acts, singer Sarah Ikumu, dance group MerseyGirls, comedian Daliso Chaponda, comic magician Matt Edwards, and singer Kyle Tomlinson,[10] each received a golden buzzer during their auditions - with eight appearing in each one - returning to the original arrangement before the sixth series - and eleven of these acts making it into the live final; the wildcard act chosen by the judges was Sarah Ikumu, after she placed 3rd in the public vote in the third semi-final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

  Winner |   Runner-up |   Third place |   Finalist |   Semi-finalist

Judges' Wildcard Finalist | Golden Buzzer Audition

Participant	Age(s) ^1	Genre	Act	From	Semi-final	Result
Angelicus Celtis	12-17	Singing	Choir	Llanelli, Carmarthenshire	4	Eliminated
Code 3	14-16	Dance	Dance Trio	Dartford, Kent	5	Eliminated
Daliso Chaponda	37	Comedy	Stand-up Comedian	Manchester (originally Malawi)	5	Third place
David Geaney	22	Dance	Dancer	Republic of Ireland	3	Eliminated
Destiny Chukunyere	14	Singing	Singer	Birkirkara, Malta	2	Eliminated
Dizzy Twilight	65	Variety	DJ	Wiltshire	2	Eliminated
DNA	29, 43	Magic	Mentalists	London	1	Finalist
Empire Dance Crew	15-27	Dance	Street Dance Troupe	London	1	Eliminated
Grace & Ali	17, 16	Dance	Dancing Duo	Hartlepool & Middlesbrough	2	Eliminated
Harry Gardner	16	Singing / Music	Singer & Pianist	Essex	2	Eliminated
Issy Simpson	8	Magic	Magician	Blackpool	2	Runner-up
Jamie Lee Harrison	24	Singing	Singer	Newcastle upon Tyne	5	Eliminated
Jay Wynn	36	Singing	Singing Robot	Gloucester, Gloucestershire	3	Eliminated
Jess Robinson	34	Comedy	Impressionist	London	5	Eliminated
John Parnell	63	Variety	Hula-Hoop Artist	Nuneaton, Warwickshire	4	Eliminated
Jonny Awsum	39	Singing / Comedy	Comic Singer	London	4	Eliminated
Josephine Lee	30	Magic	Illusionist	London	3	Eliminated
Kyle Tomlinson	15	Singing	Singer	Sheffield	1	Finalist
Leah Barniville	14	Singing	Classical Singer	Republic of Ireland	2	Eliminated
London School of Bollywood	18-27	Dance	Bollywood Dance Troupe	London	3	Eliminated
Lords Of Strut	35, 36	Dance / Comedy	Comic Dance Duo	Cork, Republic of Ireland	5	Eliminated
Martin & Faye	47, 10	Singing	Opera Duo	Warrington, Cheshire	3	Eliminated
Matt Edwards	34	Magic / Comedy	Comic Magician	Suffolk	2	Finalist
MerseyGirls ^2	14-17	Dance	Dance Group	Merseyside	4	Finalist
Miss Treat Vibe	19-24	Singing	Girl Group	Sheffield, London, Birmingham & Swindon, Wiltshire	1	Eliminated
Missing People Choir	32-71	Singing	Choir	London	5	Finalist
Ned Woodman	8	Comedy	Stand-up Comedian	Maidstone, Kent	3	Finalist
Niels Harder	26	Magic / Comedy	Comic Magician	Amsterdam, Netherlands	1	Eliminated
Paws With Soul	24-29	Dance	Dance Troupe	London	4	Eliminated
PC Dan	33	Dance	Dancer	Kingston upon Hull	1	Eliminated
Perfect Pitch Creation	8-14	Singing	Choir	Derbyshire	5	Eliminated
Reuben Gray	16	Singing / Music	Singer & Guitarist	Guildford, Surrey	4	Eliminated
Ryan Tracey	35	Variety	Balloonist	Omagh, County Tyrone	4	Eliminated
Sarah Ikumu	16	Singing	Singer	Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire	3	Finalist
St. Patrick's Junior Choir Drumgreenagh	8-12	Singing	Choir	Rathfriland, County Down	1	Eliminated
TapTastik	19-62	Dance	Tap Dance Troupe	Brighton, East Sussex	2	Eliminated
The Pensionalities ^2	84, 75	Singing	Singing Duet	Doncaster, South Yorkshire	4	Finalist
TNG Characters	16-25	Dance	Dance Troupe	London	5	Eliminated
Tokio Myers	32	Music	Pianist	London	3	Winner
Tyrone & Mina	36, 35	Danger	Knife Throwing Duo	Argentina & Spain	1	Eliminated

• ^1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series.
• ^2 Each respective participant(s) auditioned under a different name, before changing them for their semi-final appearance.

Semi-finals summary

Buzzed out |   Advanced - 1st in public vote |   Advanced - 2nd in public vote

  Eliminated - 3rd in public vote |   Eliminated

Semi-final 1 (29 May)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Alfie Boe & Dame Vera Lynn[11][12]

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes				Finished [13]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
St. Patrick's Junior Choir Drumgreenagh	1					4th - Eliminated
PC Dan	2					5th - Eliminated
Niels Harder	3					8th - Eliminated
Kyle Tomlinson	4					2nd (Second in Public Vote)
Empire Dance Crew	5					7th - Eliminated
DNA	6					1st (Won Public Vote)
Tyrone & Mina	7					6th - Eliminated
Miss Treat Vibe	8					3rd - (Lost Public Vote)

Semi-final 2 (30 May)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Camila Cabello[11][14]

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes				Finished [13]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Destiny Chukunyere	1					6th - Eliminated
Dizzy Twilight	2					8th - Eliminated
Harry Gardner	3					4th - Eliminated
Issy Simpson	4					1st (Won Public Vote)
Matt Edwards	5					2nd (Second in Public Vote)
Leah Barniville	6					5th - Eliminated
Grace & Ali	7					3rd (Lost Public Vote)
TapTastik	8					7th - Eliminated

Semi-final 3 (31 May)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Cast of Bat Out of Hell: The Musical[11][15]

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes				Finished [13]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Josephine Lee	1					4th - Eliminated
London School of Bollywood	2					6th - Eliminated
Martin & Faye	3					5th - Eliminated
Ned Woodman	4					2nd (Second in Public Vote)
Jay Wynn	5					8th - Eliminated
Sarah Ikumu ^3	6					3rd (Lost Public Vote)
David Geaney	7					7th - Eliminated
Tokio Myers	8					1st (Won Public Vote)

• ^3 Sarah Ikumu was later sent through to the final as the judges' wildcard.

Semi-final 4 (1 June)

Guest Performer, Results Show: Richard Jones[11]

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes				Finished [13]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Paws With Soul	1					7th - Eliminated
Angelicus Celtis	2					5th - Eliminated
John Parnell	3					8th - Eliminated
Reuben Gray	4					3rd (Lost Public Vote)
Ryan Tracey	5					6th - Eliminated
The Pensionalities	6					1st (Won Public Vote)
Jonny Awsum	7					4th - Eliminated
MerseyGirls	8					2nd (Second in Public Vote)

Semi-final 5 (2 June)

Guest Performer, Results Show: 5 After Midnight[11][16]

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes				Finished [13]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Jess Robinson	1					5th - Eliminated
Perfect Pitch Creation	2					7th - Eliminated
Code 3	3					8th - Eliminated
Daliso Chaponda	4					1st (Won Public Vote)
Missing People Choir	5					2nd (Second in Public Vote)
TNG Characters	6					6th - Eliminated
Jamie Lee Harrison	7					3rd (Lost Public Vote)
Lords of Strut	8					4th - Eliminated

Final (3 June)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Diversity[11]

  Winner |   Runner-up |   3rd place

Finalist	Order	Finished [13]
The Pensionalities	1	5th
MerseyGirls	2	9th
Kyle Tomlinson	3	6th
Ned Woodman	4	10th
DNA	5	11th
Matt Edwards	6	4th
Missing People Choir	7	8th
Sarah Ikumu	8	7th
Daliso Chaponda	9	3rd
Issy Simpson	10	2nd
Tokio Myers	11	1st

Ratings

Episode	Air date	Total viewers (millions) [17]	ITV Weekly rank [17]
Auditions 1	15 April	11.35	1
Auditions 2	22 April	11.62	2
Auditions 3	29 April	10.79	1
Auditions 4	6 May	11.69	1
Auditions 5	13 May	10.97	1
Auditions 6	20 May	11.39	1
Auditions 7	27 May	10.69	1
Semi-final 1	29 May	9.75	2
Semi-final 1 results		7.19	12
Semi-final 2	30 May	7.90	10
Semi-final 2 results		6.44	16
Semi-final 3	31 May	8.24	8
Semi-final 3 results		6.78	14
Semi-final 4	1 June	7.54	11
Semi-final 4 results		7.09	13
Semi-final 5	2 June	8.10	9
Semi-final 5 results		6.51	15
Final	3 June	10.07	1

Controversy

Following the broadcast of the second audition episode, the programme faced controversy over an administrative mistake that hadn't been noticed until a production researcher had been doing background checks on a pair of participants. In 2015, the programme's terms and conditions had been amended with a new rule, stipulating that any foreign participants (an individual who is not a resident of the UK) that took part on Britain's Got Talent would be required to have the proper visas that gave them "the right to live and work in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Republic of Ireland". However, the programme's official website had not been updated when Chinese acrobatics duo Gao Lin and Liu Xin applied for an audition, and thus were unaware that their UK visas, which were for visitation rights, made them ineligible to win the contest's prize if they had proceeded further into the contest and won the final.

References

1. Westbrook, Caroline (2 June 2017). "Little Mix cancel Britain's Got Talent final performance after show's switch to Saturday night". Metro. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
2. "Britain's Got Talent Grand Final moves to Saturday". 31 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
3. "Britain's Got Talent". Elstreestudios.co.uk. 28 February 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
4. "Britain's Got Talent's brand new live set and studio revealed | Britain's Got Talent 2017". TellyMix.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
5. "Britain's Got Talent 2017 confirm brand new twist for the live shows | Britain's Got Talent 2017". TellyMix.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
6. Anna Francis (5 June 2017). "Simon Cowell reveals BIG change he's making to Britain's Got Talent and viewers aren't happy about it". Retrieved 5 June 2017.
7. "Britain's Got Talent Final winner: musician Tokio Myers triumphs - just ahead of magician Issy Simpson". The Telegraph. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
8. "NEW DATES ADDED: It's audition time and we're coming to a city near YOU!". 14 October 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
9. "Britain's Got Talent 2017 auditions: Judges' audition dates, venues, tickets". TellyMix. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
10. Anth, Gee (3 February 2017). "Britain's Got Talent 2017: David Walliams and Amanda Holden press their golden buzzers!". Twit Celeb Gossip. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
11. "Little Mix, Diversity, Camila Cabello & more to perform at BGT Semi-Finals". Britain's Got Talent. itv.com. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
12. @AlfieBoe (27 May 2017). "@AlfieBoe: Don't miss Alfie singing Dame Vera Lynn's iconic 'We'll Meet Again' during Monday's #BGT live results show! Tune in to @ITV from 9.30pm" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
13. "Britain's Got Talent 2017 voting percentages revealed!". ITV. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
14. @CamilaCabello (28 May 2017). "@Camila_Cabello: performing #cryinglntheclub on @BGT tuesday may 30th!!! which means my UK cuties i get to see u sooooooooon" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via Twitter.
15. @BatOutOfHell (27 May 2017). "@BatTheMusical: The rock'n'roll rumours are true...the cast of @BATtheMusical will PERFORM LIVE on Britain's Got Talent (@BGT) on Wednesday 31st May" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via Twitter.
16. @5AM (27 May 2017). "@5AfterMidnight: WE ARE COMING to @BGT on 2nd June! Can't wait to perform #UpInHere live for you guys for the first time" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via Twitter.
17. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 6 May 2018.