Britain's Got Talent

[STEFFYSMUM]

thats great at least shes getting some experience. the groups up here only charge about £2 a week for the kids and they get juice and crisps for this. then we obviously have to sell so many tickets for the show. we are going to see one of there panto tonight my daughter was in the adult chorus with them last year but decided not this year as she had exams. they have a really good name in this neck of the woods. its a shame theres nothing like that there.

[igloobabe]

There is a group called Rare productions which we tried to audition her for, but they shut up shop before we got there despite promising to wait till 7pm. They sound good but I decided to wait till she is 15 as she won't get a main role till then.

[oscar]

Live auditions start on 4th January. Is anyone going?

[Ellie8989899301]

Where did you find that out Oscar?

[igloobabe]

So they must be lying when they say you will hear by the end of Jan! Wouldn't surprise me.

[oscar]

Unreality tv website. Loads of people on there debating callbacks etc and list of dates on there too. London is the first set of live auditions on 4th 5th & 6th of January with Birmingham at the end of January. Think if you are short listed you will have heard
by now, especially if it is for a child as licenses need to be obtained. A NAPM friend is waiting for another call & have all crossed for them

[igloobabe]

Just confirms my suspicions that this show is totally rigged. I have been told by a prospective 'agent' that she 'got a child through' the first round last year. I know that Diversity were approached by the show and didn't go through the normal channels.

[meggygirl]

Thought you might like to hear about my DD's BGT experience this year!

My DDs weekend drama school were contacted by BGT and asked if any if their students would like to enter. We rang and were asked to email a photo-I also emailed a clip of her singing.

She auditioned last November-had to wait 7 hours before being seen but a big fuss was made of her when she was seen-she was filmed in the holding area etc.

She was shortlisted first and then got through to judges and got 3 yes's. She was made to change her song the day before appearing in front of 2500 people and it was one she didn't know well so she had 1 evening to learn it! She did well considering but obviously did not perform to the best of her ability.

The reveal [where semi finalists are chosen] was postponed twice-we had actually cancelled my DDs school ski trip for the first dates.

Today after waiting 3 months we were told that she wasn't going to be taken to the reveal in London after all. Basically our lives have been on hold for months and I bet they'd decided months ago who the semi finalists are.

I wouldn't have been that surprised but we have had so many phone calls from the producers asking whether my DD had ever had a recording/modelling contract, asking for photos etc that we had really got our hopes up.

We have been prepared for disappointment the whole way through but the length of time all this has taken has been ridiculous.

My DD is a good singer but didn't have a story she was willing to reveal to the public. To be honest I never could imagine her on BGT but thought we would have a go to see how far she got.

Sorry to go on but I thought it might interest anyone who was thinking of having a go next year! I also believe that if I hadn't had a chance to speak to the producer initially she wouldn't have been noticed at all- we all know there are many fantastic singers out there.

She won't enter next year anyway!

[igloobabe]

Well,surprise surprise!
I KNEW it! I've always suspected that most, if not all contestants are actually approached beforehand by producers (as were Diversity)
It's obvious really - how else would they know who to film in the holding area?
My daughter goes to a local drama group and they have never been contacted by BGT - is your dd's a well known one?
I refuse to watch BGT anymore, and I advise anyone who believes that kids with raw talent deserve a break NOT to watch it either!

[meggygirl]

No her drama school is not well known. I believe they contacted a few in the area so maybe they wanted more contestants from our region.

[igloobabe]

Your dd was treated shockingly. I think the show started out ok but soon descended into a cruel fun-poking exercise.

[sophiesocks]

Your dd was treated shockingly. I think the show started out ok but soon descended into a cruel fun-poking exercise.

i agree, why put people through after all those rounds of auditions just to make fun of them, why not be honest about the process...

[meggygirl]

To be fair to BGT I don't feel that my DD has been made fun of [although plenty of adults were]. The worst they have done is string us along. At the end of the day though we did know that 160 of the 200 through to the reveal would ultimately be disappointed. Trouble is that it has been going on so long that everyone school/drama/friends etc know about it and that makes it worse I think.

If you look on facebook and reality TV forum a lot of people do have a 'story' and I think the producers feel this will get them the votes to make money for the TV company. They also prefer the more original acts I think.

We did enter initially having no expectations of getting anywhere-the trouble is the further you get the more you believe you might!

[sophiesocks]

sorry i didnt mean to imply they had made fun of your daughter, i was more thinking of the acts that they put through only to tear them down when they are on stage in front of them at the live show / auditions, it just doesnt seem very kind or encouraging, to build somebody up and make them think you think they are good and put them through several rounds only so that there can be some people for the audience to boo, or maybe i am getting the wrong end of the stick about how the audition shows that go on tv work

[meggygirl]

It's OK- I just wanted to clarify!

I don't think they would be unkind to children-at least that is the impression we had. There were adults who had obviously been built up to think they were great and who were then booed off which was awful. Some adults knew what they were doing and that was fine. There was one 'vulnerable' adult there when my DD auditioned though and he was devastated. We thought it was dreadful at the time.