Britains Got Talent

Faryl Smith has reportedly signed a £2.3 million record deal with Universal.

The Britain's Got Talent finalist, who caught the public attention for her rendition of 'Ave Maria' on the ITV show, was also being sought by Simon Cowell and a number of other record companies, reports the Daily Mail.

The 13-year-old's parents are said to be impressed with how Universal has helped turn opera singer Katherine Jenkins into a global name.

Smith said: "It's all just so overwhelming. I'm honoured to be joining such a fantastic record company, especially since it's where Katherine started. She has been brilliant, there's so much to learn and she will always take my calls, I feel much better knowing she is around.

"This is about the opportunity of a lifetime for me, singing is my passion and to be given the opportunity to make a career of it at such a young age is a dream come true."

Universal's Dickon Stainer said the size of the deal reflects the company's faith in Smith as a "long-term artist".

Smith's debut album is expected in May 2009.

Aww I hope she does well, I liked her. Amazing voice

im pleased she has a great voice

SIMON Cowell’s pal Sinitta is embroiled in a Britain’s Got Talent bias row.

A 50-strong choir she assembled auditioned and was put through to the final by the judges — despite miffed spectators describing them as “mediocre”.

So Macho singer Sinitta, 42 — who used to date Simon — encouraged them to appear on the ITV1 show after getting churchgoers together for a charity performance last Christmas.

She was in the front row of the crowd, offering direction as they sang at last Friday’s London audition.

Unlike almost all the other acts, judges Simon, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan allowed the choir to sing their version of Bill Withers’ Lovely Day uninterrupted to the end.

A source said: “It looked very fishy. Simon admitted he’d met them before through Sinitta and kept looking at her all the way through the performance.

“She was giving them encouragement and support from her plum position on the front row — just behind Simon.

“They got some criticism but they got through even though they were only mediocre at best.

“It felt like they’d been given special treatment because of Sinitta’s connection to them.”

But a spokesman for the show denied foul play, saying: “Simon made it very clear that he had met them before. People are only put through if the judges think they are good enough.”

Amanda Holden has claimed that working with four judges on Britain's Got Talent was too "confusing".

The actress said that Kelly Brook had to be axed from the reality TV series because there was not enough room for her in the show's format.

"Kelly's a lovely girl, but it doesn't work with four people, it doesn't," she told GMTV. "Because when you get two buzzes, and then two non-buzzes, Ant and Dec and everyone was going, 'What does that mean?'...and it was so ridiculously confusing.

"It was a shame for her because she was thrown completely in at the deep end."

Kelly Brook was let go by the talent show panel on January 20, just six days after being appointed.

Britain's Got Talent returns to ITV in May.

I wish they would stop going on about it now!

I mean they changed the x factor 3 to 4 and that worked in the auditions they are just making excuses now

SIMON Cowell got mobbed by screaming girls at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions, says fellow judge Piers Morgan.

The ex-journalist reckons Cowell’s recent split from girlfriend Terri Seymour added to the “stampede”.

But he said Madonna could be Si’s ideal new woman, adding: “They’re both fabulously rich — and have massive egos.”

Lucky Simon :)

ANT and Dec told yesterday how a host of STRIPPERS turned up at this year’s Britain’s Got Talent auditions.
The duo got hot under the collar at “exotic” acts who prompted fast buzzer action from the ITV1 show’s judges.

Dec said: “The vibe this year is burlesque.” But Ant added: “They call it burlesque, but it’s stripping. Burlesque is, like, feathers and it’s quite tastefully done.

“We’ve had a lot of stripping. Which is brilliant if you are a fellow standing in the wings watching.”

This year’s show, which starts in May, was also swamped with dancers following 14-year-old George Sampson’s win last year.

But one guy went further and combined Paul Potts-style opera singing with some HIP HOP dancing.

Dec said: “It didn’t go down too well with the audience.”

SATURDAY Night Takeaway is looking for old embarrassing diaries for the show. If you can help, email [email protected].

Ant and Dec have admitted that they were furious when Simon Cowell hired Kelly Brook for Britain's Got Talent without consulting them.


The show's hosts did not learn that Brook had been recruited for the talent programme's judging panel until the first day of auditions in Manchester.


Brook was axed from the ITV1 series just six days later after producers decided that the format did not work with four judges.


"We didn't ask for her to be sacked. But it's completely true we were annoyed that she'd been brought in because we hadn't been told about it," Ant told the Mail On Sunday. "We arrived for work, got to the hotel in Manchester and found out there was to be a fourth judge for the show.


"Simon hadn't told us. He hadn't told anyone. Kelly was just there. She's a great girl and she looked fabulous, but if anyone had asked us straight off we'd have said it's almost irrelevant. It could have been anybody and it wouldn't have worked. We wish somebody had asked us. But no one did and no one consulted us."


Dec added: "We were angry about Kelly. But it was because no one asked our opinion. What was upsetting was that it happened in the first place. It was wrong from the start."


Britain's Got Talent returns to ITV1 in May.

Britain's Got Talent star Amanda Holden has claimed that she would appear on the programme for free.

The actress revealed that judging hopefuls alongside Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan on the hit ITV1 show is one of the highlights of her year.

"It's a real blinking easy fabulous job and I'd do it for free - they're a fool to pay me," she told PA.

Holden also promised that the forthcoming third series of the programme will be the most entertaining yet.

"I can honestly say I think it's the best series so far. The three of us never stopped laughing, crying in my case and generally having a good time," she explained. "I went home with tummy ache for having such a good laugh every single day, it was great."

Asked if she is tipping a particular act for victory, Holden replied: "There's a father-son act that I particularly like, that are kind of in the same vein as Signature last year, which is, you think they might be doing one thing and they end up doing something else. There's lots of big surprises."