The eleventh series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 15 April to 3 June 2017; because the One Love Manchester concert was to take place on 4 June, the live final was brought forward a day to avoid clashing with it. Following the closure of Fountain Studios the previous year, the live episodes were broadcast from Elstree Studios. The change in location allowed for a revamp of the studio used by both the main programme and its sister show, Britain's Got More Talent.
For the first time in eleven years, this series featured no judges' vote for each semi-final – instead the acts getting the highest and second-highest tally of public votes would move on to the live final; after the series' conclusion, Cowell admitted that he disliked this format change. In addition to the judges not voting for an act, the Public Wildcard format was dropped from the show, while the number of acts making it into the semi-finals was reduced to 40, returning to the original semi-final format used prior to the sixth series.
The eleventh series was won by pianist Tokio Myers, with magician Issy Simpson finishing in second place and comedian Daliso Chaponda third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.1 million viewers.
Series overview Following open auditions held the previous year between October and December, the Judges' audition took place between January and February 2017, within Blackpool, London, Birmingham and Salford. Along with discontinuing the use of the Public wildcard format, production staff changed the rules to suspend the use of the Judges' vote – the change meant that the voting system would be purely conducted by a public vote, with the semi-finalists receiving the highest and second-highest tally of votes respectively automatically securing a place in the live final. This change in format was not announced until 27 May 2017; on 5 June, following the conclusion of the eleventh series, Cowell admitted he disliked this change and had production staff informed it would not be used for the next series.
Of the participants that took part, only forty made it into the five live semi-finals – of these acts, singer Sarah Ikumu, dance group MerseyGirls, comedian Daliso Chaponda, comic magician Matt Edwards, and singer Kyle Tomlinson, each received a golden buzzer during their auditions – with eight appearing in each one – returning to the original arrangement before the sixth series – and eleven of these acts making it into the live final; the wildcard act chosen by the judges was Sarah Ikumu, after she placed 3rd in the public vote in the third semi-final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:
Judges' Wildcard Finalist | Golden Buzzer Audition
ParticipantAge(s) GenrePerformance TypeSemi-finalResult Angelicus Celtis 12–17 Singing Choir 4 Code 3 14–16 Dance Dance Trio 5 Daliso Chaponda 37 Comedy Stand Up Comedian 5 Third Place David Geaney 22 Dance Tap Dancer 3 Destiny Chukunyere 14 Singing Singer 2 Dizzy Twilight 65 Music DJ 2 DNA 29 & 43 Magic Mentalist Duo 1 Empire Dance Crew 15–27 Dance Street Dance Group 1 Grace & Ali 17 & 16 Dance Contemporary Dance Duo 2 Harry Gardner 16 Singing / Music Singer & Pianist 2 Issy Simpson 8 Magic Illusionist 2 Jamie Lee Harrison 24 Singing Singer 5 Jay Wynn 36 Singing Singer 3 Jess Robinson 34 Singing / Comedy Singing Impressionist 5 John Parnell 63 Variety Hula Hoop Artist 4 Jonny Awsum 39 Comedy / Singing Comic Singer 4 Josephine Lee 30 Magic Magician 3 Kyle Tomlinson 15 Singing Singer 1 Leah Barniville 14 Singing Classical Singer 2 London School of Bollywood 18–27 Dance Bollywood Dance Group 3 Lords of Strut 35 & 36 Comedy / Dance Comic Dance Duo 5 Martin & Faye 47 & 10 Singing Opera Singing Duo 3 Matt Edwards 34 Comedy / Magic Comic Magician 2 MerseyGirls 14–17 Dance Contemporary Dance Group 4 Miss Treat Vibe 19–24 Singing Girl Band 1 Missing People Choir 32–71 Singing Choir 5 Ned Woodman 8 Comedy Stand Up Comedian 3 Niels Harder 26 Comedy / Magic Comic Magician 1 Paws With Soul 24–29 Dance Dance Group 4 PC Dan 33 Dance Bodypopper 1 Perfect Pitch Creation 8–14 Singing Choir 5 Reuben Gray 16 Singing / Music Singer & Guitarist 4 Ryan Tracey 35 Variety Balloon Artist 4 Sarah Ikumu 16 Singing Singer 3 St. Patrick's Junior Choir Drumgreenagh 8–12 Singing Choir 1 TapTastik 19–62 Dance Tap Dance Group 2 The Pensionalities 84 & 75 Singing Singing Duo 4 TNG Characters 16–25 Dance Dance Group 5 Tokio Myers 32 Music Pianist 3 Tyrone & Mina 36 & 35 Danger Knife Throwing Duo 1
Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series. Each respective participant(s) auditioned under a different name, before changing them for their semi-final appearance.
Semi-finals summary Buzzed out | |
Semi-final 1 (29 May) Guest performance: Alfie Boe & Dame Vera Lynn ("We'll Meet Again")
Semi-finalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzesPercentageFinished St. Patrick's Junior Choir Drumgreenagh 1Choir12.3% 4th – Eliminated PC Dan 2Bodypopper6.7% 5th – Eliminated Niels Harder 3Comic Magician0.9% 8th – Eliminated Kyle Tomlinson 4Singer28.1% 2nd (Won Public Vote) Empire Dance Crew 5Street Dance Group2.4% 7th – Eliminated DNA 6Mentalist Duo32.0% 1st (Won Public Vote) Tyrone & Mina 7Knife Throwing Duo3.0% 6th – Eliminated Miss Treat Vibe 8Girl Band14.6% 3rd – (Lost Public Vote)
Semi-final 2 (30 May) Guest performance: Camila Cabello ("I Have Questions"/"Crying in the Club")
Semi-finalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzesPercentageFinished Destiny Chukunyere 1Singer4.2% 6th – Eliminated Dizzy Twilight 2DJ1.6% 8th – Eliminated Harry Gardner 3Singer & Pianist12.9% 4th – Eliminated Issy Simpson 4Illusionist26.6% 1st (Won Public Vote) Matt Edwards 5Comic Magician23.4% 2nd (Won Public Vote) Leah Barniville 6Classical Singer12.1% 5th – Eliminated Grace & Ali 7Contemporary Dance Duo17.3% 3rd (Lost Public Vote) TapTastik 8Tap Dance Group1.9% 7th – Eliminated
Semi-final 3 (31 May) Guest performance: Cast of Bat Out of Hell: The Musical ("I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"/"Dead Ringer for Love")
Semi-finalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzesPercentageFinished Josephine Lee 1Magician8.9% 4th – Eliminated London School of Bollywood 2Bollywood Dance Group4.2% 6th – Eliminated Martin & Faye 3Opera Singing Duo6.2% 5th – Eliminated Ned Woodman 4Stand Up Comedian21.8% 2nd (Won Public Vote) Jay Wynn 5Singer1.3% 8th – Eliminated Sarah Ikumu 6Singer16.8% 3rd (Lost Public Vote) David Geaney 7Tap Dancer4.1% 7th – Eliminated Tokio Myers 8Pianist36.7% 1st (Won Public Vote)
Sarah Ikumu was later sent through to the final as the judges' wildcard.
Semi-final 4 (1 June) Guest performance: Richard Jones
Semi-finalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzesPercentageFinished Paws With Soul 1Dance Group2.6% 7th – Eliminated Angelicus Celtis 2Choir7.5% 5th – Eliminated John Parnell 3Hula Hoop Artist 2.5% 8th – Eliminated Reuben Gray 4Singer & Guitarist11.5% 3rd (Lost Public Vote) Ryan Tracey 5Balloonist2.8% 6th – Eliminated The Pensionalities 6Singing Duo33.0% 1st (Won Public Vote) Jonny Awsum 7Comic Singer10.5% 4th – Eliminated MerseyGirls 8Contemporary Dance Group29.6% 2nd (Won Public Vote)
Cowell asked for his X to be removed during the comments.
Semi-final 5 (2 June) Guest performance: 5 After Midnight ("Up In Here")
Semi-finalistOrderPerformance TypeBuzzesPercentageFinished Jess Robinson 1Singing Impressionist7.7% 5th – Eliminated Perfect Pitch Creation 2Choir4.7% 7th – Eliminated Code 3 3Dance Trio3.7% 8th – Eliminated Daliso Chaponda 4Stand Up Comedian41.1% 1st (Won Public Vote) Missing People Choir 5Choir13.0% 2nd (Won Public Vote) TNG Characters 6Dance Group5.8% 6th – Eliminated Jamie Lee Harrison 7Singer12.8% 3rd (Lost Public Vote) Lords of Strut 8Comic Dance Duo11.2% 4th – Eliminated
Final (3 June) Guest performance: Diversity
Finalist OrderPerformance TypePercentage Finished The Pensionalities 1Singing Duo6.9% 5th MerseyGirls 2Contemporary Dance Group5.1% 9th Kyle Tomlinson 3Singer6.7% 6th Ned Woodman 4Stand Up Comedian3.2% 10th DNA 5Mentalist Duo3.0% 11th Matt Edwards 6Comic Magician7.9% 4th Missing People Choir 7Choir5.2% 8th Sarah Ikumu 8Singer5.6% 7th Daliso Chaponda 9Stand Up Comedian14.7% 3rd Issy Simpson 10Illusionist17.5% 2nd Tokio Myers 11Pianist24.2% 1st
Ratings
Episode Air date Total viewers (millions) ITVWeekly rank Auditions 1 11.35 1 Auditions 2 11.62 2 Auditions 3 10.79 1 Auditions 4 11.69 1 Auditions 5 10.97 1 Auditions 6 11.39 1 Auditions 7 10.69 1 Semi-final 1 9.75 2 Semi-final 1 results 7.19 12 Semi-final 2 7.90 10 Semi-final 2 results 6.44 16 Semi-final 3 8.24 8 Semi-final 3 results 6.78 14 Semi-final 4 7.54 11 Semi-final 4 results 7.09 13 Semi-final 5 8.10 9 Semi-final 5 results 6.51 15 Final 10.07 1
References