The winner of Britain’s Got Talent has been announced, with Magician Harry Moulding taking home £250,000.
The illusionist fell to his knees as presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly declared him champion.
He later told Ant and Dec: “I can’t believe what is going on. Thank you, thank you everyone so so much. I genuinely feel like everyone has been behind me. This has been the most incredible journey.”
The Blackpool-based magician performed earlier in the night and stunned the judges by correctly guessing which cards they had chosen from a pack. To add to the impressive feat he did all of this while jumping out of a plane. He was fast-tracked to the final after guest judge KSI hit the golden buzzer in the semi-final, which also saw him propose to his girlfriend.
Moulding, who beat nine other finalists to reign supreme, will also perform at the Royal Variety Show as part of their prize.
Dance group The Blackouts was named the runner-up, with dancer Binita Chetry coming in third place.
The final itself, which aired live on Saturday (31 May), was a dramatic one which saw Ant and Dec briefly pause the show as they weren’t ready for young musician Olly Pearson’s performance.
“It was going so well but we’re going to have to have a quick chat with you judges because we’re not quite ready on stage yet for Olly,” McPartlin said.
Elsewhere, Donnelly had to apologise after judge Bruno Tonioli swore during his reaction to comedian Joseph Charm’s performance. “We were just p***ing…” said the 69 before pausing himself and correcting his comments. He then issued an apology for swearing.
“Apologies if you were offended by Bruno’s slip of the tongue there,” added Donnelly.
The finalists of the 18th series of ITV’s talent contest were made up of magicians, dancers and choir singers under the watchful eye of judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and Bruno Tonioli.
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This season of the show – its 18th, after originally premiering in 2007 – started back in February, and three months later the end is almost here.
They included Scottish singer-songwriter Vinnie McKee, Swiss dance group The Blackouts, 11-year-old guitarist Olly Pearson and supermarket worker Stacey Leadbetter, whose singing skills saw her put through by guest judge KSI.
Elsewhere, drag queen opera singer Jasmine Rice also competed alongside alternative dance group Ping Pong Pang, stand-up comic Joseph Charm, and Hear Our Voice, a choir group whose members were victims of the Post Office scandal as depicted in ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
The programme, which was broadcast live from the Hammersmith Apollo after a week of five semi-finals, also saw performances from singer Stacey Leadbeatter, dance group Ping Pong Pang and guitarist Olly Pearson.
A wildcard act introduced into the live final was revealed to be singers Han & Fran, who performed an Abba medley.
