Sydnie Christmas celebrated BGT win in Wetherspoons: I needed a pint

Britain’s Got Talent winner Sydnie Christmas has said she celebrated her triumph in a Wetherspoons pub because she “needed a pint”.

The gym receptionist burst into tears on Sunday night as presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly revealed she had scooped the £250,000 prize, as well as a spot on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance.

She clinched victory with a showstopping performance of Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

An average audience of 5.2 million tuned in to the show, giving ITV a 39% share, and viewers peaked at 6.5 million when Christmas was named as the winner.

When asked if she remembers the moment she was crowned winner, she told ITV’s This Morning: “Not really! I just remember shutting my eyes and then just punching the air, like I’d scored a try at a rugby match. I just couldn’t believe my life.”

Christmas was the last to perform during the live final and she said: “I was pacing … I was watching it, I was clapping, I went in to watch Innocent (Masuku, the operatic tenor she competed against).

“Absolutely amazing, it made me sob. I had to get my makeup sorted out, I was like, ‘How am I going to go on now?’. It was so good, everyone was amazing.”

After her name was called as winner she went to celebrate at the pub and said: “We needed a pint and we needed it now. I love a Wetherspoons!”

Discussing coming up with a song choice after performing My Way in the semi-finals, she said: “It’s so difficult because all my efforts went into My Way to try and make that the way that it was, and we created it, and then really luckily got through to the final and then you have three days to whip up a song.

“BGT helped me and when they said that version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, I was like, ‘I can’t do that’ because that’s Loren Allred’s version and she is my idol.

“Obviously, you put your own kiss on it and your own way. Loren was so supportive, I got a video from Loren and I sobbed, this is a ride I don’t want to get off of. Seriously, I’m so thrilled with my life right now, I can’t believe it.”

Christmas added that she “can’t wait” to perform at the Royal Variety Performance for the King Charles but said she has “not a clue” what the future holds.

She said: “That’s the exciting bit about it. I’m so ready to just throw myself into whatever opportunity is there for me, that will have me.”

Nuclear engineer-turned-magician Jack Rhodes, who put on a “lie detector” hat during his routine, was told by head judge Simon Cowell that he had a shot at winning, but ended up as this year’s runner-up.

In third place were Ghanaian dancing duo Abigail and Afronitaaa, who were told the “entire audience” had fallen in love with them after their high-octane dance performance.

They performed to a medley of songs, which included popular Afrobeats track Antenna by Fuse ODG.

The final, which came after a week of five live semi-finals, also saw performances from the likes of magician Trixy, Taekwondo troupe Ssaulabi, teaching assistant and comedian Alex Mitchell, choir Northants Sings Out, and Japanese skipping group Haribow.