Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts wades into show fix row – and sends urgent warning to Innocent Masuku
Innocent Masuku has a long history of training behind him
FORMER Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts has warned finalist Innocent Masuku to sort his microphone out for his next performance.
The opera singer spoke out to support Innocent amid the ongoing fix row over his impressive singing background.
Paul won the first ever series in 2007 and believes acts should be able to reveal their experience – and it shouldn’t be frowned upon.
He explained: “Britain’s Got Talent is not about untrained or amateur talent. It’s not about talent that hasn’t been seen elsewhere – it’s simply about talent.
“With Innocent [Masuku], for example, I wish that they are allowed to talk about his training. A lot of the criticism that the opera and classical music role has is that there is this impression that you can suddenly become this brilliant singer with little or no training.
“But they haven’t talked about his training. He has worked hard to get into the English National Opera.
“Everyone knows that he’s been to the English National Opera so let’s not talk about it as it doesn’t exist.
“Instead let’s embrace that and show the amount of work that he’s put in himself to get his talent there.”
Paul continued: “Yes, he’s had a lot of training, but I don’t see what the issue is.”
Last night Innocent Masuku, Trickstars and Ssaulabi all made it into the top three after the vote was opened to the public.
South African hopeful Innocent Masukuk was crowned the winner of the night based on the votes received, while the judges unanimously put through Ssaulabi to Sunday night’s final.
During the semi-final, Innocent’s performance was slightly overshadowed by technical issues and Paul is keen for him to get it sorted before the final.
Speaking to , he questioned the performance, saying: “Innocent [Masuku] gave a great performance in the semi-final but I don’t understand what is going on with the sound.
“There were times where you could barely hear his voice. You struggled to hear it above the track. There was a lot of production in the track but the voice seemed to be lost.
“I don’t know if it was the positioning of the microphone. I know the producers do like to have the full view of the face.”
Britain's Got Talent winners
Britain's Got Talent has a gigantic hall of fame when it comes to its winners - from magicians, comedians to dance troops - the show has had it all. Here's a look back at each winner from each series...
2023 – Viggo Venn
2022 – Axel Blake
2021 – Cancelled by ITV due to the Coronavirus pandemic
2020 – Jon Courtenay
2019 – Colin Thackery
2018 – Lost Voice Guy
2017 – Tokio Myers
2016 – Richard Jones
2015 – Jules O’Dwyer & Matisse
2014 – Collabro
2013 – Attraction
2012 – Ashleigh and Pudsey
2011 – Jai McDowell
2010 – Spelbound
2009 – Diversity
2008 – George Sampson
2007 – Paul Potts
Offering his advice, he continued: “I’m not sure if it can be looked at but if I was Innocent, I would certainly be doing so. For him, using a Show Microphone meant you struggled to hear his voice at places during the track.
“That is not ideal for an opera singer. It’s something that happens from time to time as they are using microphones designed for people in pop and rock. You need to use the right equipment to get the voice across – and I’m not sure whether that was the case here.”
Britain’s Got Talent airs tonight on ITV1 and ITVX.
