Britain’s Got Talent reveals first two finalists after truly chaotic semi-final launch

The first two Britain’s Got Talent 2025 finalists have been revealed after a chaotic semi-final launch night.

Tonight, Ant and Dec returned to host the ITV talent show’s first live show at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London, in a shake-up to the usual schedule.

With BGT extended this year and airing until May, the semi-finals will go live to the nation each Saturday for six weeks, instead of happening nightly over the course of one week as they previously did.

Dressed to the nines, judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and Bruno Tonioli were also back to dish out the feedback, with KSI no longer behind the desk after a brief stint as a guest judge during auditions.

However, the Geordie hosts confirmed that the YouTube star will be back later in the series.

In total, seven semi-finalists performed tonight: Akira, Auzzy Blood, Eden Choi, Heavysaurus, Linda Mudzenda, The Blackouts, and Vinnie McKee.

But only two could make the final, and they were Vinnie McKee and The Blackouts.

Musician Vinnie was sent sailing through after acquiring the most public votes for his operatic rendition of Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

Meanwhile, The Blackouts received the Golden Buzzer after showing off their dance and acrobatic act featuring LED-created shapes on stage and a person appearing to get lifted into the air holding balloons, to a melody of songs including Galantis’ Runaway (U & I) and Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars.

This is another first for BGT, as the Golden Buzzer is typically only used during the auditions round to send acts through to the semis.

This year, though, one will be assigned to a judge per week, allowing them to send an act straight through to the final, rather than the panel casting votes out of the top three like before.

For the first one, Amanda was given the responsibility.

She and her fellow judges gave Swiss dance troupe The Blackouts a standing ovation before their comments were drowned out by chants of ‘Push the Gold!’ from the audience.

‘Your audition took our breath away, and this evening, it was even better, honestly. My heart soared for you,’ she told them before pressing the gold button, sending confetti raining down on stage.

‘They were sensational,’ Simon then said. ‘That is exactly the kind of act that I believe can win the entire series this year, and they deserve it because it’s different, it’s original, it’s creative, amazing, seriously.’

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‘Even the fact that it went slightly wrong at the beginning—it wasn’t your fault—actually made it better, because it shows how difficult this act is,’ he added, after The Blackouts were forced to delay their performance due to a tech fault.

It was a truly wild first semi-final tonight, to say the least. Eight acts were due to perform; however, eight-year-old magician Teddy Magic was a no-show.

Ant and Dec announced ahead of his slot early on in the show that he was ‘not ready,’ meaning Scottish singer Vinnie took his place.

Despite viewers holding out hope that he would appear later on, alas, he did not.

Ahead of opening the public vote, Dec later confirmed Teddy had pulled out of the semi-final, telling viewers: ‘Unfortunately, Teddy won’t be performing tonight but we hope to see him later in the series.’

Amid all the chaos, people at home took to social media to express their concern for schoolboy Teddy while also remarking that BGT has ‘gone to pot’.

@michellepryde branded tonight ‘a shambles,’ while @superTV247 wrote: ‘This show ran 5 nights a week seamlessly for years, now it’s a Saturday night and it’s all gone to pot’.

Britain’s Got Talent continues next Saturday on ITV1 and ITVX.

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