Lauren Medway

Simon, I am posting this in the, probably, vain hope that you or one of you people will read some of the forum comments about your fantastic show. Last year you were man enough to stand up and announce that your team had made a mistake and had changed your minds about one the acts.

I respectfully and strongly advise you to review your decision not to put Lauren Medway through to the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent.

She appeared in the More Britain's Got Talent on 3rd May. She was only aired for about 30 seconds and Amanda, Piers and yourself were seen to give her 3 yes votes and the presenter said the judges were "blown away".

I am her grand-father and as a family we have been contacted by many people, including some from overseas, asking why she wasn't on the main BGT programme. Lots of interest has come from just that 30 seconds on your secondary show.

I really feel that you have missed an opportunity to, lucratively, promote a star of the future (sorry about the cliché).

Since her audition on BGT she has been entered in the Live & Unsigned competition and she has made it to the National Grand Final (The last 15 from an entry of 10,000).

Ged Doherty has been down to the west country personally to see her and two other acts and told my daughter and her husband that if they thought that Lauren would be able to handle the pressure that he would be interested in her.

Of the many e-mails and phone calls that my family have received since her brief appearanve on BGMT the one I am posting below is quite representitive ...........

"Please, Please, Please can we see more of your lovely little girl who had a beautiful voice on Britain’s Got More Talent?

What a little star of the future! I really don’t think that they showed enough of her singing on the show. The host said that she blew the judges away and sailed through to the next auditions. So why can’t the nation see what they saw? They should of shown their comments, because they must have been good if she sailed through to the next round. She deserves to be put on the real show that is on in the early part of the evening. It only seems that you get somewhere or get to see all the comments if they have some story to back up their talent. You little girl seems to be on there because she is truly talented and gets put on the second rate show. Go on do the nation a favour, and lets see more of her!!!!!"

A fan of  little Lauren Medway.

It's your call Simon 

I can completely empathise with your feelings - my wife spoke to Lauren in the room at the Café Royale.  Her group was also knocked out at this stage, and we've had the same comments from many people, asking why they were not put through to the live shows.  I don't know, and I suspect that we never will.

My main point, though, is that this is not just a talent show - it is a TV show.  The producers, and Simon Cowell, have to produce two hours of entertaining TV per week.  Of course there were lots of talented people who deserved to get down to the top 40, and we can all argue that our friends and family were by far the best.  But they have also got to provide a mix of different acts in the live shows, and this is not necessarily proportional to the people that entered the competition.

This means that the four live semi-finals will feature a number of dance troupes, magicians, contortionists, musicians and singers.  Some will be kids, some will not - there has got to be a good spread.  For Lauren, it could simply be the case that they decided to allow through five acts by kids aged 12 and below for the 'cute' factor, and she was number six on the list.  Or equally, given that they tend to follow the background of the groups for the next stage in more detail, it could be that she has had her five minutes of fame on the audition shows, and they feel that there is not enough to add in the future stages to captivate the audience - we've all seen criticisms of this year's show for highlighting the sob stories.  Realistically, a young lad who has been bullied and defies the bullies by pursuing his singing even after his nan and grandad died, his house burnt to the ground and his brother was sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit, is far more likely to get through than a middle class girl who has had every opportunity for fame through stage and theatre groups and supportive parents.

I'm not trying to be hard or disrespectful, but just see this show for what it is - TV entertainment, and if Lauren wants to make it big, BGT can just be part of the journey, not the end of the road.

One piece of advice I would give, though, is that Lauren's parents need to keep a tight rein on those around her - she may have actually blown her own chances by publicising her success through various websites and the press, when the producers had very clearly stated that no participants should talk to the media.  Lauren appeared in her local paper on 16 January when she got through the first audition.  If I were a PR officer on the show (and I am a PR consultant in the real world), I'd put a question mark over anyone who had broken this rule - the show works because the producers very strictly monitor what the media find out, so that they can release information to selected outlets as and when they choose in the best interests of the show.  I should imagine that it will not have gone down well that her involvement in the show was being well-publicised before many of the acts had found out if they were through to the theatre shows.  Whoever told the press actually broke a contractual term that Lauren's parents agreed to!

I do wish her well in her pursuit of fame and fortune - she is a talented girl - so don't see this as the end for her - she is young and has many years of opportunities, including next year's BGT if she so chooses...

Hi,

Thank you for your kind words, they are very much appreciated, but in response to your comment about Lauren appearing in the paper on the 16th of January, at this point in time we had not agreed to anything. We were only told at the 2nd audition on the 25th of January, that as from that point we were not allowed to talk to the press. We were given a sheet of paper as you probably are aware of, telling us who to contact if we were approached by any media. As a matter of fact we was, and acted upon britains got talent's words and phoned their press people. This is why Lauren and Jo did not then have a follow up story to how they had done. Our local area was left in suspense until Saturday evening. We followed their instructions very carefully and did not break any agreement at all, only to find though, that other people across the country had appeared in national papers and on local news! It does make you wonder Who was right and who was wrong. If you tend to do the right thing all the time, like we have always done(as would anyone who brings up children) you only seem to get knocked down for it.

 

our dance group was also in the room when simon, amanda, peirce, came to tell everyone they were not through. Can i just say im sure our group who also got yessess and nice comments would have been gratefull to just be shown for a few seconds on BGT or BGMT they showed most the acts from blackpool but our group has not been televised at all for our childrent it is a massive dissapointment but the kids have excepted thats the way it gos. Think your pretty ungratefull at least she got televised there are a lot of talented children in britians got talent this year and watching the show i can see why its been so tough. but like i said at least your daughter was televised. I watched her and she was good but to be perfectly honest with you there was quiet a few young children on the show who were just as good or better even.. ie the 12 year old girl shown main show last week ... you just have to except she didnt make it and be gratefull at least she got to be on tv unlike some who got through to the next round. people were i live now think r kids were telling lies about getting through to the next round(haha round) and there getting some stick. so count your losses promote her elsewhere and get over it theres no way the show is going to change everything to accomidate your granddaughter. shes a lovely girl though i wish her well for the futur

hi i would just lyk to say tht maybe she should go bk this year acts who are gd and go back always get a big story about thm jst look at george the current winner.

dear simon cowell we love britons got talent and have signed up for 2009 but we dont know when we will find out if were through or not

layboa:

hi i would just lyk to say tht maybe she should go bk this year acts who are gd and go back always get a big story about thm jst look at george the current winner.

Not being funny, but can someone ban TEXTSPEAK from these forums?!!!

 

My daughter Kimberley Clarke went down to the auditions in Cardiff and didn't even receive a reply.

 

Peter Lee  (Mr. Spoons). I am writing to explain what went wrong with my act, I could not hear the music very well,the sound was very low and I also could not hear the spoons very well, I felt silly standing on the stage I hoped a trap door would open up and I fell through it. When Mr Peirce said he could not hear the spoons, all he seen was my arms flying about, I thought he hated the spoons and me playing them. People I met who were in the audiance told me they could not hear the spoons, I realised then I was wired up wrong, and the mike did not pick up rhe sound of the spoons. Between not hearing the music and the spoons, and my voice was blaring out, I was at a loss. if their had been a speaker behind me you would have see a diferant me. It must have been funny me prancing about the stage, I can.t wait to see the show. Amanda I thought you were great, you gave me confidence, Symon I admire you to, I like your honesty in judging people, thanks, Mr Peirce I have a feeling you did not like the spoons. I was dissapointed the way things tuned out, I was geared up to show you how I can really play the spoons. I was telling everybody how I was going to show Symon how I could play the spoons, and Symon giving me a standing ovation, but it back fired, that is the story of my life.     Peter Lee  (Mr. Spoons).

Hi Simon love you and your show xxx