Entertainment
Every Britain’s Got Talent winner from Viggo Venn to Paul Potts – and where they are now-Zara Woodcock and Josie Copson-Entertainment – Metro
Boy, has time flown by.
Britain’s Got Talent began in 2007 (Picture: Rex)
Britain’s Got Talent will crown the 17th winner in tonight’s grand finale.
The finalists will be competing to win a £250,000 cash prize, a slot on the Royal Variety Performance, and newfound fame, which if used well, can catapult their success.
With a new champion just hours away from being revealed, what has happened to the previous winners of the ITV show?
No need to look far, we’ve put together a list of previous winners with what they’ve been doing since their time on stage.
Series 16 – Viggo Venn
The reigning champion is comedic clown Viggo Venn whose act provided plenty of chaos in the ITV show.
To get laughs, he kept things simple in his first audition. He began by clapping and jumping around the stage to Daft Punk tune One More Time before removing a series of hi-visibility vests. Just as the audience thought he was done – another one came off!
During his final performance, the comedian had the judges in fits of laughter when he forced Simon Cowell to wear a matching hi-vis jacket as rose petals were thrown over the pair.
While his style of comedy divided the audience, he has remained busy with a tour in Australia and USA, and the Norweigan star is currently back in the UK hitting up theatres with his shenanigans.
He also dabbled in reality TV, taking part in The Traitors Norway. Although it was filmed before BGT, it wasn’t on screens until after his win.
Series 15 – Axel Blake
Comedian Axel Blake was laughing all the way to the bank after his win in 2022.
Since winning, Axel has continued to do what he does best – make people chuckle, and creates skits for his social media pages, lightly poking fun at everyone from conspiracy theorists and the ‘bad influence friend’.
He has continued to appear on TV in shows including Don’t Hate The Playaz, CBBC’s Saturday Mash-Up, and The Stand-Up Sketch Show.
Axel competed in America’s Got Talent: All Stars, before being eliminated in the early stages, and has also contributed to BGT Reacts, where famous faces have their say about auditions.
On top of his TV work, he has started a podcast called Like Father Like Fun, with his son Nyron.
Series 14 – Jon Courtenay
Jon was the first Golden Buzzer act ever to win the series title, being sent through earlier in the series by Ant and Dec.
The pianist quickly won over the Geordie hosting duo with his original songs which incorporated tales of his family life and his experiences travelling the world, and utilised his humour.
After his win, Jon revealed he had secretly been fighting skin cancer, after finding odd-looking moles on his head.
‘I know that BGT are making a TV show and it’s almost a cliché now that people have these sob stories when they come on the show, and I didn’t want to be that,’ he shared on This Morning.
After surgery and immunotherapy, he was given the all-clear.
This year, the stand-up comedian and musician was finally able to go on tour with Bigger, which included a stop at the London Pavilion. He also managed to find time to write a book, Against The Odds: The Memoir Of A Weird Year.
Season 13 – Colin Thackery
Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery left us bawling with his audition, singing Wind Beneath My Wings.
He dedicated the heartfelt song to his late wife Joan and we just couldn’t hold in our tears.
After performing at the Royalty Variety Performance in November 2019, he confessed he gave away his prize money to the Royal Hospital Chelsea where he lives as well as to his grandchildren.
A month later, he released his debut album Love Changes Everything and even toured the UK.
Season 12 – Lost Voice Guy (Lee Ridley)
In 2018, Lee Ridley had the audience howling with laughter with his extremely unique routine during the auditions, which eventually led to him becoming the first comedian to ever win the show.
As he lost his voice because of cerebral palsy at a young age, the comedian completed his many routines through an iPad app.
Where is he now? Lee performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and released a book jokingly titled: I’m Only In It For The Parking.
Lost Voice Guy went on tour around the UK in 2019 and made the show available online.
Series 11 – Tokio Myers
After growing up in a ‘really rough estate’ in northwest London and watching his headteacher being stabbed, Tokio Myers used his experiences to create beautiful music.
The musician wowed his way through to the finals, where he was crowned 2017’s winner.
After the series, he released his debut album Our Generation. He has also been releasing mesmerising covers and original music on his Instagram.
Series 10 – Richard Jones
2016 had former army officer Richard Jones take home the grand cash prize after impressing judges with his magic.
He became the first magician to win the show, and scored his own one-off television show called Operation Magic.
Fans can catch his magic show on a UK tour in 2024 with dates in September and October.
Series 9 – Jules O’Dwyer & Matisse
‘Do you like dogs?’ Brad Pitt once said in Snatch.
‘We love dogs,’ Jules and her canine pal Matisse probably replied when they auditioned in series nine.
The winner and her dog Matisse received death threats after viewers found out their act included a second dog named Chase because apparently people take BGT a little too seriously.
A year after winning, the human-doggy dup performed live shows and were allowed to keep their title despite Ofcom ruling that viewers were deceived.
Series 8 – Collabro
In 2014, musical theatre act Collabro were crowned winners of the talent show.
They auditioned with Les Miserables’ Stars, which got them through.
The group have since released seven albums, five of which were done without band member Richard Hadfield, who decided to leave the group as he was ‘unhappy for a very long time’.
In 2019, they were seen and eliminated at the Preliminaries of Britain’s Got Talent: Champions.
The boys also appeared in the American version of The Champions.
Series 7 – Attraction
The Hungarian shadow act was one of the more unique acts on the show, differing from the usual singing and dancing.
Attraction even divided viewers as they were the first foreign act to win the show in 2013.
The controversy obviously didn’t matter as the group has since found themselves performing in Las Vegas and even appearing in Swinton insurance advertisements.
Series 6 – Ashleigh and Pudsey
More dogs! Ashleigh and Pudsey won our hearts the moment they auditioned, showing off their impeccable routine.
As 2012’s champions, they performed at the Royal Variety Performance before Pudsey went on to star in a TV adaptation of Mr Stink.
That’s not all, the pair travelled the nation in theatre productions of it.
Pudsey was then the titular star of his own film – voiced by David Walliams – and made his reality show debut on ITV2’s Top Dog Model.
However, the nation’s beloved doggo passed away in 2017 and Ashleigh promised she’d continue performing with her other dog, Sully.
Series 5 – Jai McDowell
Jai McDowell singer won the fifth series in 2011 but was dropped by Simon’s record label nine months after being signed as his debut album didn’t do too well. At least he got to support Gareth Gates on tour.
He is now a member of the vocal group G4.
Series 4 – Spelbound
If Spelbound didn’t leave you spellbound, then nothing can sway you.
The acrobat group somersaulted, flipped, and twisted their way to the winner’s crown and even performed at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, and released their own DVD.
Members Elise Matthews, Georgia Lancaster and Millie Spalding even won three consecutive world championships as a trio in acrobatic gymnastics. After winning gold in 2016, they decided to retire.
Series 3 – Diversity
Well, it’s Diversity. They really speak for themselves.
The incredible dance group are extremely active to this day, with members appearing on many shows.
Individual stars of the group have become more famous than others, especially Dancing on Ice judge Ashley Banjo, and Kiss FM presenters Jordan Banjo, and Perri Kiely.
Series 2 – George Sampson
George Sampson impressed the judges the moment he auditioned and eased his way straight to the final winning with his performance of Singin’ In The Rain.
The 2008 winner quickly made use of his newfound fame, starring in online television show called Follow My Lead offering fans behind-the-scenes access to his life, and releasing the single Get Up on the Dance Floor/Headz Up. In 2009, George and Simon amicably parted ways.
In 2011, he switched to acting and played Kyle Stack in the school drama Waterloo Road. He also appeared in Mount Pleasant, Emmerdale, and joined the team for the hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, playing Dean.
He competed on Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions which was eventually won by Twist & Pulse.
Series 1 – Paul Potts
Opera singer Paul Potts was the first-ever winner of Britain’s Got Talent back in 2007.
Whew, how time flies.
Following that first season, Paul released his album One Chance and went on to release six more over the years.
He appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his performance clip on YouTube and co-hosted the Australian talk show The Morning Show in 2009.
In September 2017, Potts won the 320th episode of the South Korean television music competition Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend, in a duet with Bae Da-hae. Two years ago, he competed on the Masked Singer Germany.
His incredible story was told in a film named after his first album, with James Corden playing Paul.
Britain’s Got Talent airs tonight, Saturday 11 April, at 8pm on ITV
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