On Sunday night Susan Boyle and Diversity flung their way into the Saturday final of Britain’s got Talent. Last night, eight more acts attempted to join them. And goodness was there a mixed bag of acts…

Since his audition, DJ Talent, a rapper, has became very well known over the whole of the UK after his catchy lyrics in his rap stormed over Britain. However, many people wondered pre-show, would DJ Talent, aka Anthony Ghosh, win the judges over as for some this act may seem a complete disaster. However, with a couple of added lyrics incorporating the judges’ names, it seemed to go surprisingly well, despite his surrounding dancers making it look like we were watching something from one of London’s raunchiest nightclub.

It was then over to stuntman, Merlin Cadogan. In his pre-show VT he said he could die from this trick so it was a little un-nerving. The trick was to hang himself upside down from a burning rope and trying to release himself from a straight jacket. Having been buzzed by judge Amanda Holden, the pressure was really on for him to actually succeed, if he didn’t he would plummet 10 feet onto the stage floor head first. Thankfully, he did succeed and the show was spared the tragedy of an injury during a live show. In the judges comments, Amanda sparked small conflict between fellow judges Simon Cowell, 49 and Piers Morgan, 44 stating that she thought “It was not daring enough.” Simon barked back at this quite amusingly, however in agreement with the male judges, it was daring and quite interesting to watch.

Yesterday, like previously mentioned, dance troupe Diversity triumphed in the judges vote and progressed to the final on Saturday night. Last night, there were two dance troupes, one of which was very similar both in quality and style to Diversity whilst one of the troupes, Hot Honeyz, were an all girl group and after a pretty successful audition it was thought they may be a dark horse in this semi. It wasn’t quite the case and after a buzz from Simon it looked like their dream of appearing at the Royal Variety Performance and winning £100,000 was coming a little less realistic. It wasn’t a terrible performance though as said by the judges yet from both a judging prospective and a viewer prospective, it was unlikely that this group would get to the final due to the better troupes in the competition.

Jamie Pugh followed on from Hot Honeyz and after a very, very good audition and making it to the papers all over the UK, it was all eyes on him. His performance did not go down as well as he may have hoped though, receiving a buzz from Amanda half way through it denting his confidence that has been a huge issue for the singer ever since he first auditioned. This was even in the VT in his audition saying that he had never done such a thing before (which was later called a lie by the papers saying he’d performed in London’s West End before) and was terrified at the prospect. On the plus side though, there were no vicious comments from the obvious, Simon Cowell and it seemed from that point he may still have a chance of reaching the final.

Peter Coghlan, aka Mama Trish, was up next. The drag queen, who was last seen in his audition sticking his finger in his belly button later to lick his finger, mimed to Beyonce’s Single Ladies with backing dancers behind him who seemed to do more than him. Peter, dressed in a red Amy Whinehouse styled wig, got quite a large reception for his performance yet on a critical view on it, and I’m not a great fan of drag acts, it was a bit static, as was picked up by Amanda who buzzed for the second time in as many acts-obviously, she wasn’t too impressed.

Last year, in the audition shows of this ITV hit show, it seemed that comedians were coming into the competition thick and fast. This year however, it did not seem that there were as many. Though, last night we were treated to comedian/ventriloquist Gareth Oliver who was seen in his audition ‘throwing his voice’. This time, he came on with a puppet who was styled as a cross between famous singers Pavarotti and Paul Potts. It seemed that following a  buzz from Simon Cowell, the pressure was on. Like all candidates it means everything to them and this was followed through in his performance, making the puppet irritatingly wipe his head with a tissue every few seconds to represent him sweating.  The overall view on this performance, not half as good as his audition.

One act though, despite there being The X factor dedicated to singing, there are many singers focused on Britain’s got Talent and the semi-finals this year seemed plagued with them. The next one being Shaun Smith, a rugby player gone singing. His audition went nicely and after his audition it was a name to add to the increasing list of people going through to the semi-finals and it was no surprise to see him in the live shows. Singing U2’s ‘With or without you’ he got a great reception both from the judging panel at the front of the auditorium, and the screaming fans that make up the rest of the auditorium.

Finally, it was over to Flawless, the dance act that combine cheeky dance songs and clips with “genius moves.” It was all hands on deck for them though as yesterday their biggest competition, Diversity, secured a place in the final. Even before they entered the stage though, they got overwhelming applause and after their performance, it was even louder. To add to this, they got great comments from the judges, but for now, it was over to the public.

As always, the public place their votes which then decides who comes first and automatically goes though to the final and who will battle it out in the judges choice. Unsuprisingly, Flawless roared into the final with no judges input and it was between Gareth Oliver the comedian and Shaun Smith for the next final place. It was a close one though, Simon voted for Shaun before Piers voted for Gareth leaving Amanda with the final decision. She probably made the right decision though, sending Shaun Smith dancing into the final.

You may also be interested in...

• Britain’s Got Talent – Semi-Final 1
• Britain’s Got Talent – Semi-Final 3
• Britain’s Got Talent – Semi-Final 4
• Britain’s Got Talent-Semi-Final 5
• Britain’s got Talent: The Final