Britain’s Got Talent returned with its third semi-final on Saturday, but fans were left baffled at Amanda Holden’s awkward gaffe as drag queen Jasmine Rice sang Never Enough.
The ITV compeтιтion has made some major changes this years including airing weekly shows, rather than daily semi-finals and the judges have been given the honour of the Golden Buzzer each week, choosing their favourite act of the night.
But after fourth contestant, drag queen opera singer Jasmine belted out The Greatest Showman’s Never Enough, the judges and audience gave her a huge standing ovation before Bruno hit the golden buzzer.
He said: ‘Oh my god, talk about the belting Diva. Every bit of your body is resonating with you and delivered in a way that was outstanding.’
He asked the audience, ‘What do you think, what do you think?’ as he leaned over and hit the golden buzzer in excitement.
Hosts Ant and Dec then asked Amanda what she thought of the performance as she awkwardly mentioned previous BGT star and the original singer of the song Loren Allred.
Britain’s Got Talent returned with its third semi-final on Saturday, but fans were left baffled at Amanda Holden ‘s awkward gaffe as drag queen Jasmine Rice sang Never Enough
After fourth contestant, drag queen opera singer Jasmine belted out The Greatest Showman’s Never Enough, the judges and audience gave her a huge standing ovation before Bruno hit the golden buzzer
She said: ‘The Greatest Showman is one of my all time favourite things to listen to and I’ve never heard it sung like that before.
‘We have had amazing singing on this show actually Loren Allred sang it and you nailed it tonight and it was wonderful and that is so well deserved.’
Despite Amanda implying the performance was better than Loren’s, fans took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to say there is no comparison to the original singers version.
They wrote: ‘Loren Allred wipes the floor. Offensive comment, Amanda;
‘Now I love The Greatest Showman but why is Jasmine Rice screaming Never Enough? #BGT;
‘That did not deserve a golden buzzer, that was terrible version of Never enough;
‘The worst golden buzzer of all time. Nothing original or inspiring about it. Bruno didn’t even want to do it, just talentless @AmandaHolden screaming at him to do so seemed to tip him over the edge. Do better BGT Judges.’
However many fans disagreed and said the performance gave them ‘goosebumps’.
They penned:’Never enough is one of the greatest songs ever written. Goosebumps of sung correctly; Lovely version of Never enough; JASMINE IS KILLING THIS VERSION OF NEVER ENOUGH! #BGT’
Hosts Ant and Dec then asked Amanda what she thought of the performance as she awkwardly mentioned previous BGT star and the original singer of the song Loren Allred
Amanda said: ‘The Greatest Showman is one of my all time favourite things to listen to and I’ve never heard it sung like that before. ‘We had an amazing singing on this show actually Loren Allred sang it and you nailed it tonight’
Despite Amanda implying the performance was better than Loren’s, fans took to X – formerly known as Twitter – to say there is no comparison to the original singers version
However many fans disagreed and said the performance gave them ‘goosebumps’
In a more awkward moment, later in the show Loren (L) returned to the stage alongside champion Sydnie Christmas (R) to perform Over The Rainbow
Read More BGT’s Simon Cowell takes a savage dig at fellow judge Amanda during semi-final
Meanwhile Simon Cowell added: ‘Go tell those complete idiots from the opera world they’re idiots because you proved them wrong.’
Asked how she felt after receiving the golden buzzer, Jasmine said: ‘I feel so welcome and at home here there is so much energy, I never want to wake up I feel like I’m dreaming’.
In a more awkward moment, later in the show Loren returned to the stage alongside champion Sydnie Christmas to perform Over The Rainbow.
Elsewhere in the show, Simon made a savage dig at fellow judge Amanda after she criticised an act during the live semi-final on Saturday.
The judges watched saw Liverpudlian dancers Harry and Lewis take to the stage to perform a snazzy breakdance mashup in the hopes to land themselves in the final.
But despite getting praise Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon, Amanda, 54, decided to take the ‘unpopular’ route and slam the act.
And this didn’t go down well with head judge Simon, 65, who immediately called her out for her taste being influenced by age.
Amanda told the act: ‘Well I’m not going to be very popular, I am going to say thank god for the production and everything else because I was quite disappointed with that.’
In 2022, Loren auditioned for BGT and revealed she is the original voice before Never Enough and received Amanda’s golden buzzer
As the crowds broke out in boos, she added: ‘I can see that you have worked hard and that the choreography and everything was very intricate and that worked hard on it but I don’t think it was enough.
‘I just don’t feel like that was a step up from your first audition. so I am really sorry.’
To which Simon came to their defense as he said: ‘I think, personally, it was better than your first audition. I think you make what is actually hard look easy. I think you are skewered a younger audience.’
His brutal jibe at Amanda prompted a giggle from the audience, leading Simon to double down as he said: ‘No I do. I mean it.’
Amanda looked stunned at her fellow’s judge’s comment and she turned towards him in shock.