Simon Cowell has explained why he chose to ‘break the rules’ on Britain’s Got Talent last Saturday.
In case you missed it - judges Cowell, Bruno Tonioli, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden were working their way through a new set of BGT auditions when dance group Unity appeared to have such a big impact that Cowell decided to bend the rules.
Unity, which is made up of a group of college pals aged between 16-25, wowed the judges after putting on a performance that aimed to highlight all the ways people are unique.
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Speaking after the performance, Tonioli gushed: “You can be anything you want and anyone you want to be.
“The message is loud and clear. The execution, artistically, your choreography was superb.”
While Holden told them: “For me it was such a beautiful and passionate piece, the message was so strong.
"Everything that you stand for, all your personalities and the love that you have for each other, all the characters involved in this group.
"All of that made this such an amazing and special piece. It was beautiful."
The group didn’t just impress the judges either - they also garnered a huge response from the audience who cheered and gave them a standing ovation.
In fact they were so impressed that while the judges were giving their feedback, the audience began demanding a golden buzzer for the group, with presenter Dec Donnelly noting: “The audience want a gold but there aren’t any golds left.”
As you may remember, this year’s golden buzzers have all been given - twice in the case of Tonioli, in fact.
But then it was Cowell’s turn to share his thoughts on Unity and he said: "I actually thought that was astonishing, the way that you got your message across was so strong.
"It was an audition I will never forget. What you have done, you have done it your way. Look, we don't have any golden buzzers left."
"But sometimes I feel that you should break the rules," he said as he hit the buzzer despite them all being used up.
Explaining how it came about, Cowell has now said: "It wasn't really supposed to happen because we'd run out and it was kind of chaotic at this moment because the audience would not let this go.
"I thought they weren't going to leave so we said, 'You know what, why don't we just give the audience a golden buzzer?' And that's what happened."
Topics: Britains Got Talent, Simon Cowell, TV and Film, ITV
Claire Reid