Well, what was that then? If you missed or avoided this year’s Britain’s Got Talent (and most years to be honest we do), then a quick recap is in order. There was the usual mix of singing, dancing and magic acts in the final, though a surprising and disappointing absence of performing dogs. However, the major controversy focused on the comic acts. First, a wild card act, Tonikaku was brought back for the final. His talent? To appear to be in a naked pose whilst still wearing pants. Then the actual winner, a Norwegian comedian, Viggo Venn, central to his act was wearing and removing a lot of high viz jackets to the tune “One More Time”. How did that happen?
Well, there has been a level of social media outrage at both choices. Some people have suggested that those complaining lack a sense of humour and the ability to enjoy fun. The Daily Telegraph’s reviewer, Michael Hoggan sees the defeat of “cutesy kids” as BGT’s “best result in years” and key to the show’s survival.
I disagree. It is possible to laugh at a funny act and Venn’s act was funny. Comedy can be physical and slap stick, it doesn’t have to be a joke reel, observational or even the kind of earnest political commentary we tend to get from many stand ups. However, it is possibly to enjoy, laugh with and appreciate Venn, whilst distinguishing this form of entertainment from the kind of talent that has required both natural talent and years of dedication to hone. Incidentally, nor was that about “cutesy kids” and “sob stories”. There were plenty of highly talented acts f technical brilliance that weren’t dependent on such tugs at the emotional heart strings.
However, despite what people might be saying on Twitter and Facebook, the result was neither a conspiracy theory nor evidence that Britain had lost its collective marbles and gone mad. The closest we can get to conspiracy is to allow for the possibility that the judges made some cynicial calculations when choosing the wild-card act. There is a sizeable enough section of the British public who will vote for what they consider to be the “joke act”, not just the comedian but the act that is seen to be poking fun at the event itself. That’s how we ended up with a boat called “Boaty McBoatface” after all. It is possible that the judges were aware of this and hoped that by adding in Tonikaku they might split that vote. If that was the intent it failed. I suspect that Toni lost potential support by his antics in the semi final vote where he sought to keep drawing attention to himself and away from the two youngsters who beat him to go through. Mind you, it is possible that his inclusion was simply an innocent attempt to add more variety into a programme that was top heavy on dance and rather light on other forms of entertainment.
The actual voting figures were released later and those help to kill off any presumption of conspiracy theory or national madness. Remember that in other competitions such as The X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing that there are weekly eliminations until the public are choosing between just two or three acts. The BGT format means that votes are spread across 11 acts. The result was that Venn won the competition with a mere 22.5%. His nearest competitors, Lillianne Clifton and Cillian O’Conner received just 13.1% and 11.8% respectively. I suspect that a run off vote between the top two would have seen most of the votes for other acts go to the runner up and we would have had a different winner.
So, the British public didn’t vote on mass for the joke act. Nor, was there a rigged vote (although the system of allowing people multiple votes is hardly the gold standard of democracy). However, the first past the post voting system meant it was always likely that such a result would be thrown up one day. And, if the resulting controversy gets people talking about the show, watching next year and participating in the vote, then no doubt, the judges will be happy with that.
Faithroots 