A little girl honoured by Simon Cowell at the Pride Of Britain awards and a choir that uses sign language have won a place in the live shows of Britain’s Got Talent after David Walliams pressed his golden buzzer.
Ella Chadwick was 11 when she was presented with the Child Of Courage prize by the reality show judge at the star-studded ceremony in 2018.
She had raised £3,000 for the hospital where she has been treated for nephrotic syndrome, which had led to her undergoing 40 operations.
Cowell and Ella reunited on stage as she auditioned with the signing choir Sign Along With Us on the first episode of the new series of the talent show, which was filmed before the current coronavirus crisis.
Ella and the choir members, who are aged between four and 58, sang and signed along to The Greatest Showman hit This Is Me.
After the performance, Cowell said: “I have to confess I have a friend of mine in this choice, Ella.
“Remember Pride of Britain?
“I heard Ella sing and I said I have a feeling you’re going to be auditioning on one of our shows and guess what? You’re here!
“You sang This Is Me and I’m thinking you are us, because you define what this show should be all about.
“This is an audition I will never ever forget.”
His fellow judge Alesha Dixon was left in tears by the audition and said: “I genuinely cannot find the words,” while Amanda Holden told the choir: “That song is such an anthem for people who maybe don’t feel part of the world or part of anything and I just found it really, really moving. Absolutely brilliant.”
Walliams said: “Every single one of you gave everything to this performance. An amazing and powerful message to put out there and all I can say is….” before hitting the golden buzzer, which allows the choir to skip the next stages of the show and get a place in the live shows later this year.
Also impressing the judges was the XIX Crew dance troupe, who travelled from Mumbai in India to show off their acrobatic routine, which culminated in seven people sitting on each other’s shoulders.
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The dancers earned four yeses, with Holden saying: “I very much feel like Diversity hit this thing for us and we couldn’t really beat it. I honestly feel like you just smashed it.”
Cowell added: “I think in years to come we are going to be using you are the reference point – ‘You’re just not as good as the XIX Crew.”
The judge was also left moved by father-and-son magic duo James and Dylan Piper, from south Wales, who incorporated Cowell’s son Eric into their act.
Bringing his little boy out on stage, Cowell told the pair they had “five yeses”.
Britain’s Got Talent continues on ITV.