Entertainment
Britain’s Got Talent winner claims The Voice producers pushed him into song choice before he was axed: ‘I aired my concerns’-Stella Akinwumi-Entertainment – Metro
Viewers branded the show ‘a joke’ after Richard didn’t make it through.
Viewers couldn’t believe none of the coaches turned their chairs for Richard (Picture: Rex )
The Voice’s Richard Hadfield revealed that show producers urged him to cover Sir Tom Jones’ classic during his audition
ITV viewers and host Emma Willis were shocked after Richard delivered a powerful rendition of I (Who Have Nothing) during Saturday’s episode, but failed to impress judges Sir Tom, will.I.am, Olly Murs and Anne-Marie.
After Richard left the stage, Ciao Adios hitmaker Anne-Marie praised his performance, but admitted it was ‘too classical’ for her.
Meanwhile, Sir Tom praised the BGT star for singing it stronger than he did originally, but it just wasn’t to be.
Opera singer Richard was a member of the musical theatre vocal group Collabro and won the eighth series of Britain’s Got Talent in 2014 alongside Michael Auger, Jamie Lambert, Matthew Pagan and Thomas J. Redgrave.
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Richard explained he wasn’t deflated by the unexpected outcome due to his initial doubts over the song choice.
‘I wasn’t necessarily shocked,’ he said.
‘In all honesty, I had already, in my head aired concerns about singing the song I was going to sing because it’s been done twice on the show before, it’s a Tom Jones song, and I know that people often don’t turn round for classical singers.’
‘So I already aired my concerns with the people at The Voice, and said I wanted to do other songs, and they said “no I should do this one.”
Although Richard ‘prepared’ himself over the possibility of not making it through express, he still hailed the experience as ‘fantastic’ ‘enjoyable.’
Following Richard’s audition, viewers accused the judges of being ‘poor judges in talent,’ took to Twitter and demanded ‘justice’ for the star, with one writing: ‘seriously what are they hearing we a not? Richard from Collabro was leagues ahead of the rest. Exceptional voice.’
Collabro won the series back in 2014 (Picture: REX)
Richard still hasn’t watched his audition in full (Picture: Instagram)
Addressing the overwhelming support from fans, Richard explained: ‘The fact that so many people had an opinion on it and wanted to air it really goes a long way.
‘I think for two days I was just beaming from ear to ear just from all the things people were saying across the weekend.’
He admitted: ‘I still haven’t actually watched the audition, I’m so bad at watching myself back on things, I get so cringed out on stuff like that.
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‘I’ve seen clips and on the days that it was shown over the weekend I couldn’t watch it live because I was working, singing and doing gigs.
‘So it’s been great to catch up with what people are saying so I’m going to trust the audience that I did a good job.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to ITV for comment.
The Voice returns on Saturday at 8pm on ITV.
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