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'Britain’s Got Talent' Final Recap - Ronan knocks it out of the Parke

By Ian Cullen Jun 5, 2011, 16:13 GMT

04/13/2011 - David Hasselhoff, Amanda Holden and Michael MacIntyre - "Britain\'s Got Talent" Press Launch at the Mayfair Hotel in London on April 13, 2011 - Mayfair Hotel - London, UK © Solarpix / PR Photos

After weeks of the agonizing selection process judges Amanda Holden, Michael Mcintyre, David Hasselhoff and late addition Simon Cowell presided over the final ten acts.

This years final was interesting by mere virtue of the fact that Simon Cowell hadn’t been involved with the auditions, which allowed for certain acts to slip through that may not have done had he been involved with the early selection process.

Dancer Steven Hall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDPoY07QYpw opened up proceedings and won over the audience. All Hall needed was a hoover and some Shake And Vac.

In fact, I’d have liked to have seen him win because he was having a bit of a laugh, but completely took you with him. Also unusual for a dance act was Steven Hall's age.  He had to be nearing his pension years.

Another act that was instantly relatable to the audience and viewing public was Michael Collings, who during his initial audition in week one or two was rather nervous. For the final he seemed a little more at ease than he was in those opening weeks and put on a fairly competent performance singing the Tracy Chapman song “Fast Car.”

I’m inclined to agree with most the judges when they say Michael Collings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ151lqADnc has a bright future. Though technically not the most brilliant of vocal talents out there. He does have a certain huskiness to his voice, which would likely have broad appeal. Plus the fact that he isn’t a flashy performer will ultimately provide him with a fairly long career if managed properly.

One of the few dance acts to make it through this year was James Hobley, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgLaivNrOiU who has an interesting story in terms of him being mildly autistic. James put on a really good dance routine, but it was only really good enough to get him so far in the competition. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if we see more of him in the years to come.

An act that really impressed me during the whole of the show was a young pianist by the name of Paul Gbegbaje, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNBARuRXpfk who took the gutsy move of playing one of his own compositions. What is particularly impressive about this guy is the fact that he has only been playing for 5 years and started late to boot. Sadly although Paul thrilled the audience, judges and impressed me. He wasn’t in the top three by the end of the show, but I am hopeful that he has a good career ahead of him.

An act that has been the bone of much controversy in the press is 12 - year old Ronan Parke, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6RB2k_PthM who won the judges and audience over with his fantastic singing voice. During the week various internet bloggers and tabloid newspapers have insinuated that Simon Cowell had fixed things so that Parke would wind up in the final. I for one do not believe this for a moment. The lad has a sweet set of pipes and commands the stage with a confidence that most older performers can only dream of having. The kid has a bright future ahead of him.

David Hasselhoff said he’d “wrote down that Ronan will win this competition.” unfortunately Hasselhoff was close with his prediction, but not close enough.

The only female finalist of the show was Jean Martin and how she got as far as the final is somewhat of a miracle because as a musician she wasn’t really top notch and her act was more cheese the substance.

In fact Simon Cowell said she is the sort of fish and chips style of act that you’d find at the end of a pier.

If I found her at the end of a pier I’d likely throw her off the end of said pier.  In a word it was this woman’s smiley inoffensive personality that won her fans and not really her musical talents. I don’t think my hearing will be the same ever again. In fact listening to jean play is somewhat akin to being smacked across the back of the head with a crowbar while still hung over.

Another impressive singer of the series was Jai McDowall, who sings with a very classical style voice and despite his nerves in earlier rounds really impressed the judges and the audience. Jai’s voice is of the caliber that you can imagine fronting a musical show such as Les Miserable. Judges commented on the fact that Jai’s performance seemed to be more confident than in previous rounds and I have to admit I’d agree with that.

The third of only three dance acts to go up last night was Razy Gogonea. Who acquitted himself well and celebrated his birthday by putting on a fabulous dance routine that would likely have won the competition in any other year, but was sadly not good enough for this year.

The final act of the night was boy band New Bounce, who sang in a sing off in one of the semi finals in order to win their place in the final. The band, which is made up of 4 young lads between the ages of 12 and 16 won the hearts of the audience and sang a nice rendition of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ and did particularly well with the harmony’s.

At the close of the show the 10 acts were whittled down by the viewing public to just three acts and New Bounce finished in a credible third place with the bookies favorite Ronan Parke getting second place, but the surprise winner was Jai McDowall, who proved a popular winner, but admittedly was somewhat of a dark horse.

Surprisingly there were no dance acts in the final three this year, which is a tad more of a surprise given that we saw several really top notch dance acts in the competition this year.

Overall this years Britain’s Got Talent has not been without its controversial decision making. Most of all having Amanda Holden lead the judging panel was something that didn’t really work for me, and I can’t see her getting the job on next years show.