Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts hits out at show 20 years after it turned him into millionaire
The first ever Britain's Got Talent winner has been voicing concern about some changes they've made to the format of the show in recent years.
It's been a long time since the talent shows first series, which was won by tenor Paul Potts.
At the time he appeared on Britain's Got Talent, he'd been working as a manager at Carphone Warehouse, and had taken some roles in amateur opera companies.
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His incredible voice made him the first ever Britain's Got Talent winner, won him a £100,000 prize and got him a slot on the Royal Variety Performance.
From there he released a very popular album and has generally done rather well for himself with an estimated net worth of £10 million, which is heartening as he seems to be a nice chap and it's always good to see them do well.
However, he did have some things to say about the show which made him famous, as it seems there's some things about Britain's Got Talent which he's not such a fan of.
Potts was speaking to Sky Bingo when he spoke out about some of the audience reactions might be giving people the wrong idea, and that he finds it 'a little off-putting'.
He said: "I think people might think it is contrived. It can lead to the show being seen as trying to create a winner, instead of just letting it happen.
"The one thing I find a little off-putting sometimes is when they mic up people in the audience to get their reaction. Suddenly they start talking and it takes away from stage time and actually viewing the acts.
"I don’t know whether they are hoping to make it like Gogglebox. It’s something they have done for four or five seasons now and it grates on me a little.
"It’s one thing to mic people up the people with the acts – but to mic up a random person? I’m not sure how natural that is."
Potts also defended acts who had prior experience in performing and had then gone on to apply for Britain's Got Talent.
The man himself faced questions over this back when he was on the ITV show, which had portrayed him as a phone salesman when he'd had experience as a performer.
The tenor fired back that he'd never worked as a professional singer and had paid for lessons himself, pointing out that everyone taking part in the show had gone through some training in some form.
He defended acts like Sydnie Christmas, who had faced some criticism from Britain's Got Talent viewers for having the temerity to have performed before, saying 'the fact she’s done stage shows before shouldn’t disqualify her from BGT'.
"I don’t see any deceit in that and I think the acts have every right to enter and be represented," he said of those who had some prior experience.
LADbible has contacted Britain's Got Talent for comment.
Topics: Britains Got Talent, TV and Film, UK News, Music
Joe Harker