
Britain’s Got Talent crowned its 19th winner in last night’s grand finale.
After weeks of auditions and live shows, judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, KSI and Amanda Holden saw the hopefuls narrowed down to 10.
This included singer Matty Juniosa, dance group LMA, magician Fabian Fox, and comedian Ted Hill.
But it was Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Farmers Choir who took home the win, emerging as the first-ever winning choir, taking home the £250,000 cash prize.
This also means that they’ve scored a coveted spot at the Royal Variety Show.
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But what happens after that?What’s become of the 18 previous winners of the hit ITV show?
No need to look far – we’ve put together a list of past champions, as well as what they’ve been up to since their time on stage.
Series 18 – Harry Moulding
Magician Harry Moulding took home the win last year after an ambitious routine that began with a spot of skydiving.
In doing so, he successfully predicted each card the judges would pull out of a hat, leaving them stunned.
24 at the time of auditioning, he faced off against dance group The Blackouts in the live final.
‘I can’t believe what is going on,’ he said as he was crowned the winner.
‘Thank you, everyone, so much. I genuinely feel like everyone has been behind me. This has been the most incredible journey.’
Harry is still touring the UK, performing for a variety of audiences – including Prince William, who described his work as ‘truly amazing.’
Series 17 – Sydnie Christmas
After performing a show-stopping rendition of Over The Rainbow during 2024’s live final, a new star was born in Sydnie Christmas.
Once the show was over, she went on to release her debut album, titled My Way, which reached number one on the UK and US iTunes Pop Albums chart and number two on the overall UK iTunes Albums chart.
Last year, she revealed that she would be going back to school in spite of her successful album and £250k win.
‘It’s good to have something, just in case,’ she said with an air of humility.
Series 16 – Viggo Venn
In 2023, comedic clown Viggo Venn provided plenty of chaos.
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 high-visibility vests. Just as the audience thought he was done – another one came off!
During his final performance, the comic had the judges in fits of laughter when he forced Simon 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 the USA, and the Norwegian 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 create skits for his social media pages, lightly poking fun at everyone from conspiracy theorists to 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.
Soon after, 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 Royal 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 head teacher being stabbed, Tokio Myers used his experiences to create beautiful music.
The pianist 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 JonesIn In
In 2016, former army officer Richard Jones took 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 then flocked to his latest show, The Sound of Magic, on tour at venues across the UK until early this year.
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 9.
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 duo 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 was crowned winners of the talent show.
They auditioned with Les Miserables’ Stars, which got them through.
The group has 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, a 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.
Ah, well, at least he got to support Gareth Gates on tour.
After two years as a member of the vocal group G4, Jai is now actively pursuing a solo career.
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 an 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 and 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 in 2007.
Whew, how time flies.
Following that first season, Paul released his album One Chance and went on to release several 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, Paul won the 320th episode of the South Korean television music competition Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend, in a duet with Bae Da-hae. Four years ago, he competed on the Masked Singer Germany.
His incredible story of mobile phone salesman to singing superstar was told in a film named after his first album, with James Corden playing him and music written by Taylor Swift.
A version of this article was first published on June 2, 2024.
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