Greatest Showman singer and young dance group secure places in BGT final

Singer Lauren Allred stunned the judges and the audience on Thursday evening’s Britain’s Got Talent live semi-final, securing herself a place in Sunday’s final.

Session singer and the voice behind the track Never Enough from The Greatest Showman, Allred, 32, impressed the judging panel in her audition and received the coveted Golden Buzzer from Amanda Holden.

Performing for the second time during Thursday’s live semi-final, Allred impressed the judges again with an emotional performance of You Say by Lauren Daigle and was crowned the winner of the evening’s show by the British public.

After Allred received a standing ovation from all four judges and audience members, David Walliams told the New York-born performer: “I’m really glad you showed a different side of yourself tonight and showed you’re so much more than one song.

“We could be looking at the winner of Britain’s Got Talent.”

Anonymous magician The Phantom also landed in the top three, but it was dance group Five Star Boys who were chosen as the second act to make it through to Sunday evening’s final.

The group – made up of boys between the ages of 10 and 12 who hope to encourage other young boys to dance – danced their way through the audience and on to the stage before performing a powerful routine to a rendition of This Is Me from hit film The Greatest Showman.

With confetti falling from the ceiling the group received a standing ovation from all four judges and the audience, bringing one of the young boys to tears.

Simon Cowell said: “If anyone bullied my son, wow, seriously, we all feel the same way, for me it’s one of the most cruel things ever.

“Your audition was, I’m going to call it a nine, but this was a 99, it was like watching a musical, it was so brilliant, it was so moving.”

Walliams, 50, added: “This goes beyond dance, into a beautiful positive message to how the world should be.”

The show also featured a performance form the first winner of Ukraine’s Got Talent, sand animation artist Kseniya Simonova, with Scottish singer Emeli Sande.

In a touching collaboration Sande, 35, gave an emotional performance of her song Brighter Days as Simonova, 37, created a detailed sand animation behind her.

The carefully crated artwork featured a constantly changing design as seemingly upsetting scenes became joyful.

The performance finished with Simonova writing “there’s gonna be brighter days”, to link with Sande’s performance.

Also among the eight semi-final acts was dancing and singing performer Mary P, who returned to the stage to perform Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins, before breaking into an energetic rap performance of Bang Bang by Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande.

Not all the evening’s acts impressed the judging panel with some receiving red buzzers.

Comedian and impressionist Stefano Paulino failed to entertain the panel, and despite laughs and encouragement from the audience, received red buzzers from Cowell and Holden.

Also among the unsuccessful acts were singing keyworkers Frontline Singer, panto group Dame Nation and Titan the Robot.

Singer Tom Ball and comedian Eva Abley secured spots in Sunday’s final during Wednesday night’s third semi-final.

Impressionist Ben Nickless and musical duo Flintz and Taylor previously made it through to the final after successful performances, and busker Maxwell Thorpe and 13-year-old ventriloquist Jamie Leahey secured their places after their performances during Monday’s show.

The Britain’s Got Talent live semi-finals conclude on Friday June 3 at 8pm on ITV.