A singer from Kent who hasn’t yet had her “big break” has been sent through to the final of Britain’s Got Talent.
Sydnie Christmas, who has performed on “a couple of cruises and was in a show in Germany” but dreams of performing on the West End stage, received the most votes from the public after her semi-final performance on Wednesday.
Judge Simon Cowell described her powerhouse rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way as “11 out of 10”.
“I was honestly thinking as you were performing, if it wasn’t for people like you, I wouldn’t bother making this show, seriously,” he said.
Christmas had received judge Amanda Holden’s golden buzzer during her first audition meaning she was automatically sent through to the next round.
In a video shown before her performance, the singer said: “I’ve done so many auditions, a lot of no’s, oh my god a lot of no’s. Thank god Amanda sees something in me,” she said.
Cowell added: “You have to wonder, who were these idiots you auditioned for before that didn’t give you the break you deserved, honestly they must be deaf…That was a masterclass.”
The semi-final also saw singing teacher Mike Woodhams from Milton Keynes voted through to Sunday’s final after his performance included singing impressions of Cher, Rick Astley, Shakira and Dame Shirley Bassey.
“You did all my favourite gay idols,” judge Bruno Tonioli said.
While Cowell said: “I love auditions when someone has a regular job but has a dream to do something else and does it really, really well.”
Holden said she was “very flattered” as he also did an impression of her singing.
The pair joins Japanese skipping group Haribow, magician Jack Rhodes, South African opera singer Innocent Masuku and South Korean taekwondo group Ssaulabi Performance Troupe on the bill for Sunday’s final.
Former Britain’s Got Talent singer Calum Scott also returned to the show to perform his track Then There Was You from the new Garfield film starring Chris Pratt.
Britain’s Got Talent live semi-finals will air each day until Friday at 8pm, with Sunday’s final at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.