Britain's Got Talent: Result 5 - Why Hollie Steel Should Not Have Made The Final While Susan Boyle Threatens to Quit

A little 10 year old breaks down and cries uncontrollably during her act in the fifth semi-final of Britain's Got Talent. The pressure is high on this final selection night as everyone wants to win. At first she is not allowed to redo her song by the producers, then Simon Cowell pledged Hollie Steel time later on to perform again, which she did. He was very wrong, for a number of reasons and his action calls into question the whole issue of the lowest age at which children should be allowed to compete with adults on such an intense show.

1. The young girl is clearly too young to cope with such pressures of a televised competition. She might be able to sing well, physically, but she is clearly NOT emotionally mature to deal with her situation. She should have been immediately withdrawn and taken off the stage to be comforted. Any kind of tears is going to elicit even more empathy from the audience and so, if the child is not yet mature to deal with the situation, and for her psychological welfare, she really should not be in the programme and should be encouraged to try again another year when she has developed further.

Child stars have a history of being burnt out by the time they are in their early 20s. The last thing we want is someone who isn't even ready yet for such attention being egged along to even greater stress at such a young age. Furthermore, no matter how cute or 'brave' she was, there will always be questions from others as to whether she manipulated the situation to get the votes, especially when she was rather petulant when she was refused permission to sing again.

2. When so much is at stake, it is important that one law applies to everyone. If no other contestant was given a second chance to do their act, Hollie should not have been given a second chance to do hers. There should have been clearcut guidelines for the semi-finals because these are not like the first round where some latitude can be given. They are prized places in a national competition. All the competitors, regardless of their age, should be adhering to the same rules, otherwise they should not be competing at this stage, but waiting until they are older and more professional and mature to do so.

3. The message being sent to future children entering Britain's Got Talent is the wrong one. It is bad enough adults have to compete with children, especially when youngsters have far more chances to realise their future, than to be denied a place because the child was also given a second chance and double sympathy! There is something terribly unfair about that and the public thought so too. The comments after the results were at least 8 out of 10 AGAINST the judges' decision, wheras all week most people were agreeing with the selections. Commentators clearly felt that tears should not get one into a final and most believed that Greg Pritchard was robbed.

It is really a shame that the final night ended like this, especially in the light of news that Susan Boyle, the hot favourite, has been behaving badly too and threatening to quit the show, clearly stressed out, and unable to take the media frenzy around her. Having built her up, it seems the media is now taking her down and reports said that she has been very distressed and angry about it. She has been placed in a 'safe house' until after the competition to be given some support.

This has been a much better show this year, full of talent and hard work, but the programme makers were clearly not ready for the YouTube world we now live in and how such intense attention will affect potential winners. It seems that the guidelines need to be reviewed urgently in the light of both Hollie Steel's and Susan Boyle's reaction to the pressure.



TWO WINNERS FROM SEMI FINAL 5

1. Aidan Davis , Dancer, Birmingham (Video)


2. Hollie Steel, Singer, Accrington (Video)


See the results being announced here and the tons of negative comments that followed!

Watch the BBC report of Hollie being very distressed during her performance.