LONDON – Dance group Diversity have heaped praise on singer Susan Boyle after their shock victory in the Britain's Got Talentfinal.
The 11-member street dance troupe, from Essex, said the Scotswoman (48), a long-time favourite to win the competition, was even more magnanimous backstage than she was in front of the cameras.
Choreographer Ashley Banjo (20) said: “She was so gracious about it, she said the best act won and backstage she said she saw something special. She was so nice about it.”
He said he was confident she would have a ‘great career’ anyway and had prepared a congratulatory speech because it appeared so certain that she would win.
Group member Terry Smith (24) volunteered to kiss Boyle, who reportedly had her first smooch with judge Piers Morgan.
Boyle is now tipped to make millions from a singing career and bookies are already predicting a number one chart hit in America.
Boyle, from Blackburn, West Lothian, appeared on Oprah Winfrey's television show after millions of people logged on to YouTube to watch her spine-tingling Britain's Got Talentaudition.
Her new-found celebrity ensured that the competition kept grabbing the headlines, and last night’s final became the most-watched television programme in the UK for five years.
ITV said it attracted nearly three-quarters of the TV audience, with a peak of 19.2 million viewers.
Recent days saw a backlash against Boyle, but writing in his blog Morgan said this could eventually spur a resurgence in her popularity.
“To me, she has been the greatest discovery the show’s ever found,” he wrote, “and I’m only sorry that the extraordinary tidal wave of publicity she attracted meant so many people got either bored or irritated by Boyle mania and decided not to vote for her as a result.”
Diversity took 24.9 per cent of the public vote last night, above Boyle’s 20.2 per cent share. Just under four million people voted, ITV said. – (PA)