# Britain's Got Talent meets Les Miserables **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906 "2009-04-13T01:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mojo\_Pin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mojo\_Pin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_Pin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/61 "2009-04-16T08:40:49Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’m sappy enough to have been moved by it, and I don’t think the judge’s reactions were faked. Simon’s no actor, and I thought the blonde hottie judge (I guess she’s the Paula of the show?) seemed almost ashamed of herself. You don’t think the reactions were overplayed (and laughably obvious?)? Everything they say and do is played up for effect, that’s acting, and they’re good at it. They are supremely aware that a camera will be pointed at their faces every moment and every expression is calculated. That’s their job. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/62 "2009-04-16T09:51:18Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I didn’t understand her joke- maybe it’s a British thing. When Simon asked her age and she said “47”. Simon rolls his eyes and she gives a little bump & grind and says “And that’s just one side of me.” ([About 1:08](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY) in this one.) I may be daft for asking this, but what’s the joke there? I don’t know. I think she was just trying to be funny, but it didn’t quite work. The judges seemed baffled by it too. What surprised me was how, for a supposedly shy retiring spinster, she actually came across as quite a self-confident person, I mean beyond the sheer chutzpah you need to be on that show at all. I didn’t think she was _that_ hideous, either. She’s never going to be a looker but with a major makeover she could scrub up reasonably well. Amazing how this story has gone global. I was reading a newspaper site from Baltimore or somewhere and some of the reaction was insane. One guy saying “not since the Beatles arrived on these shores have we heard music this good…”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/63 "2009-04-16T13:49:28Z")
I’m repulsed by the judge’s panel, if this is all on the level. If you throw open a competition to all and sundry for talent, you are – I guarantee – going to get good singers that are not photogenic. I( know – I’ve worked with many when I was in the Musical Theater Guild. But their reaction was as if they expected her to be awful on the basis of her appearance. (“I was sure you were going to fall flat on your face when you said you wanted to be like \_\_\_\_”, or whatever the quote was) Why/ Because she wasn’t beautiful? Beauty and singing talent aren’t correlated. But, since an awful lot of venues aren’t exactly open to anyone not beautiful, they may not be employed if they’re not gorgeous. Some end up in local theater, or in choirs. It’s not surprising that they don’t have deep involvement in the arts. So they should certainly have expected to encounter a person like this, eventually. Again, the very premis of the show ought to be preferentially pulling them out. We should see more of these folks, unless the behind-the0scenes sifting process has been discouraging them. I agree that it feels like a setup. I’m not convinced the panel’s reaction was for real, aklthough it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/64 "2009-04-16T14:00:54Z")
And, having finally actually seen the video, may I say that she was not near as homely as I was expecting having read this thread. She looks like…a regular middle-aged, somewhat matronly woman. I was expecting her to have jowls and giant bags under her eyes and about 3 teeth, and be mordibly obese, from what I was reading. At worst, she was incongruous because of her age. I got the impression before seeing the video that she wasn’t fit for human company after decades of being house-bound caring for her mother. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/65 "2009-04-16T15:14:29Z")
Here she is being interviewed and blasting the song out without music or an audience. > **[Susan Boyle, YouTube Sensation, Sings For America (VIDEO)](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/susan-boyle-youtube-sensa_n_187661)** > > Susan Boyle, YouTube Sensation, Sings For America (VIDEO) ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/66 "2009-04-16T15:55:10Z")
I think there is a certain amount of cynicism with EVERY act that comes out on these shows because the ratio of good acts to bad acts is quite low. And many of those bad acts come out and say grandiose things about their abilities and hopes. Was there an added heaping of cynicim with this, probably, and for all the shallow reasons stated. But to be somewhat fair, after seeing dozens, maybe hundreds of truly bad, yet delusional acts, you would be pretty damn cynical if Celine Dion herself came out and said she wanted to be like Celine Dion. Given that it appears she has no professional training, I do not think it is impossible to think that given the resources she coould be a damn fine singer and a sight better than a karaoke singer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/67 "2009-04-16T16:58:02Z")
Her voice certainly doesn’t sound professionally trained – there’s a good deal of raw talent in that voice that could be honed into magnificence, but I admit I was never more than an amateur singer myself. I did have a voice teacher, but what’s professional training? In high school, I paid a local woman something like fifteen dollars weekly for an hour’s worth of training in a little room at the community college. She taught me a lot my high school choir class never had time to do, but I don’t know if I’d call an hour a week session with a folk singer professional training. I’m going to agree: I think the judges were really honestly surprised, though the producers might have known ahead of time. I’m not convinced that the fellows backstage didn’t know what the crowd was in for. And no, her rendition of the song isn’t the best I’ve ever heard, but I think that comes from a lack of intensive training. She might have had, say, a few weeks with her local church choir director working on confidence, breath control, tone… ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/68 "2009-04-16T17:03:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I do _not_ believe that Simon’s eyebrow arch (2:01 in that clip) or his incredible smile (does he have dentures incidentally?) were faked. I don’t think he’s that good of an actor. Heck, I don’t see any evidence that those two facial expressions even occurred when she was on stage. On AI, they often show hopefuls performing in a separate room (this is during the audition phase), then cut to film of the judges’ faces from some other moment during the day. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/69 "2009-04-16T17:18:54Z")
I’m also suspicious of the audience reactions. I mean, what are the odds the director would’ve had a camera trained directly on those girls at the exact moment they look at each other with incredulity and roll their eyes? Very slim, I’d guess. I’m not saying the entire episode is faked. But I’d be willing to bet that it was mightily ‘enhanced’ for maximum effect in post editing. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/70 "2009-04-16T17:26:53Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’m also suspicious of the audience reactions. I mean, what are the odds the director would’ve had a camera trained directly on those girls at the exact moment they look at each other with incredulity and roll their eyes? Very slim, I’d guess. > > I’m not saying the entire episode is faked. But I’d be willing to bet that it was mightily ‘enhanced’ for maximum effect in post editing. It might have gone like this: “We have a real uggo on tonight. But she can sing. Tell the camera guy to find the bitchiest, most gossipy adolescent girls in the audience and key in on them. This is going to be GREAT TV!” ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/71 "2009-04-16T18:06:08Z")
when i first heard the story it reminded me of the song harry chapin sang about the guy who was a big singing fish in his small town. the people in the town all loved to hear him sing and told him he should try for the big time. so of course he tried. got horrid reviews and went back to the small town. wouldn’t sing in public again. it seems ms boyle has the raw talent to get out of the small town. i hope she does well and is able to have a good time with everything. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/72 "2009-04-16T18:18:19Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > It might have gone like this: > > “We have a real uggo on tonight. But she can sing. Tell the camera guy to find the bitchiest, most gossipy adolescent girls in the audience and key in on them. This is going to be GREAT TV!” Doubtful. How could the director guess how anyone would react simply based on what they looked like? Far more likely the girls were reacting to something else entirely and then edited in later. Or the audience reaction could’ve been totally staged. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/73 "2009-04-16T18:20:37Z")
I’m sure the producers knew she was a belter- just as on American Idol all of these people have auditioned, sometimes several times, before they go before Simon & other judges, so it’s highly probablye they played it up. But, I think the judges reactions were actual. Since I’ve never seen _Britain’s Got Talent_, does it do the same thing that AI does by having the absolutely hopeless and talentless make fools of themselves? Or are most of the people reasonably talented in some way or another? (The most irritating part of the “bad auditions” that are a staple of AI is that they’ve been sent to the judge’s room by people who’ve heard them sing and know that they’re going in to the lion’s den; for some of them- who _have_ to know they’re awful, they just want camera time so no problem, but it always struck me as cruel to do to the truly deluded when they could just send them home.) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/74 "2009-04-17T00:00:39Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I’m sappy enough to have been moved by it, and I don’t think the judge’s reactions were faked. Simon’s no actor, and I thought the blonde hottie judge (I guess she’s the Paula of the show?) seemed almost ashamed of herself. I agree with you entirely. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/75 "2009-04-17T02:01:17Z")
I agree with almost everything above. Of course the producers knew how good she was from her audtion but I don’t think that they let the judges know ahead of time. Her voice certainly isn’t perfect and she has an awful lot of vibratto, but as a lay person without any musical talent or training I think that she has a gorgeous tone to her voice. They definitely were aiming for Paul Potts v. 2.0, and I think they nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/76 "2009-04-17T02:20:35Z")
BTW, what would be the advantage of telling the judges beforehand? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/77 "2009-04-17T03:16:23Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Doubtful. How could the director guess how anyone would react simply based on what they looked like? Far more likely the girls were reacting to something else entirely and then edited in later. Or the audience reaction could’ve been totally staged. Perhaps they had 10 or 20 cameras trained on the audience and this one particular camera caught something worth showing? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/78 "2009-04-17T03:38:13Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Perhaps they had 10 or 20 cameras trained on the audience and this one particular camera caught something worth showing? Not if it’s a live show. The camera was on those girls _before_ they reacted. And I’d be very surprised if there were anywhere near 10 cameras set up simply for audience reaction. I’m guessing the audience shots were somehow staged. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the producers went out and hired a few actresses to smirk and roll their eyes before Boyle sang. They likely knew this could become another Paul Pott so they staged it very carefully, with everyone but the judges in on the gag. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/79 "2009-04-17T04:11:31Z")
Of course as moved as I was by Susan Boyle— and I was— and as much as I liked her singing— and I did— I have to admit that three days after first hearing of her I’m already getting a bit tired of her being on the news all the time. She’s getting way overexposed, and I’m beginning to fear she’s a savant who only knows one song as she’s sung _I Dreamed a Dream_ (or excerpts from) as an “exclusive” on about three shows now. I haven’t looked for her on I-Tunes, but does BGT do the I-Tunes thing like AI does? Because if they did she’d have already earned a fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906/80 "2009-04-17T05:53:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m beginning to fear she’s a savant who only knows one song Well, she knows at least two. Here’s Susan singing [“Cry Me A River”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8r9lRJ6yHY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.susan-boyle.com%2Fvideo%2FSusan-Boyle-Cry-Me-A-River-HQ&feature=player_embedded) on a charity CD from 10 years ago. (it’s YouTube, but it’s audio only) According to Scotland’s [The Daily Record](http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/2009/04/16/exclusive-susan-boyle-s-first-ever-song-release-revealed-listen-to-it-here-86908-21283564/) only 1000 copies of the CD were produced. > [@](#): > > … > > It’s all a far cry from 1999, when Susan recorded her track for the charity compilation CD at Whitburn Academy, where X Factor winner Leon Jackson went to school. > > The Millennium Celebration disc, which was partly funded by Whitburn Community Council, was the brainchild of local newspaper editor Eddie Anderson. > > He launched a search for unsigned acts to take part. And as soon as he heard Susan at the auditions he knew he had found something special. > > “I was amazed when she sang,” Eddie said. “It was probably the same reaction as everyone had last Saturday. > > “Susan was exactly the same then as she is now. She has a fabulous and unique talent.” > > … > [@Sampiro](#): > > …as she’s sung _I Dreamed a Dream_ (or excerpts from) as an “exclusive” on about three shows now. Geez, that’s the song people know her from, of course they want her to sing it. She’s been known to the world for less than a _week_, and won’t have her 2nd round on Britain’s Got Talent until the end of next month (she’ll probably have an album recorded by then!) so give her some time. But, please, please don’t join the chorus of the cynical and snarky. This thread hurts bad enough, without you joining in. At least I have Larry Mudd’s beautiful post to hang on to. If Larry joins the chorus, I think I’ll commit suicide (heads up Larry!). I’ve added at least a couple dozen views myself to the (at present) 16,891,380 [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY) views, and I’ve cried every single time. I’m not even into that kind of music, but I can’t stop watching it. It hits me on so many different levels that if one level doesn’t get touched on a viewing, another does, and then another, then another, then another. Every time, without fail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britains-got-talent-meets-les-miserables/492906.md?page=5)