List of Britain's Got Talent finalists (series 8)

The eighth series of Britain's Got Talent started on 12 April 2014 and ended on 7 June 2014. The finalists are given in the order in which they finished.

Collabro

Collabro are a musical theatre boy band. They formed only a month prior to their audition. The group consists of Michael Auger, Richard Hadfield, Jamie Lambert, Thomas J Redgrave, and Matthew Pagan. They auditioned with "Stars" from the musical Les Misérables. For their semi-final performance, they sang "Bring Him Home", also from Les Misérables. They won the show on 7 June after a performance of their audition song "Stars" with 26.5% of the vote.^[1]

Lucy Kay

Lucy Kay (born Lucy Kay Allen in Nottingham) is an opera soprano. She currently lives in Glasgow. Whilst on the show, she mentioned her school years in which she went through rough patches of being bullied. She was picked on due to her love of classical music.^[2] She claimed that a few days before the final, her planned performance was changed.^[3] She finished in second place after a rendition of "Nessun dorma" in the final.

On 19 June 2014, she signed a multi-album deal with Sony Music.^[4] Her debut studio album Fantasia was released on 24 September 2014^[5] and debuted at number 18 on the UK Albums Chart^[6] and number one on the UK Classical Chart.^[7]

It was announced that Kay to play the role of Narrator in the 2016 UK touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.^[8] The tour began in January 2016 and is scheduled to run through July 2016.^[9]

Bars and Melody

Bars and Melody (B.A.M) are a rapping/singing duo compiled of rapper Leondre Devries from Wales and singer Charlie Lenehan from Bristol. At the time of the final, Devries was 13 and Lenehan was 15.^[10][11] They auditioned with a version of 'Hopeful' with Devries delivering a rap about anti-bullying, written based on his past experiences.^[12] They received Simon Cowell's golden buzzer and were sent through to the semi-finals, where they won the public vote and were sent through to the final. In the final they performed their audition piece again, and finished in third place with 14.3% of the vote.

Jack Pack

The Jack Pack are a four-piece swing vocal group, made up of Adam Chandler Diplock (aged 29), Sean Ryder Wolf (aged 33), Alfie Palmer (aged 25) and Andrew Bourn (aged 32).^[13] Adam was previously in boy band Futureproof, who were on the fourth series of The X Factor in 2007.^[14]

They auditioned with "That's Life", progressing to the semi-final on 31 May where they performed "My Way". They topped the public vote with 57% of the vote and were put straight through to the final on 7 June where they performed "Feeling Good" and finished in fourth place with 10.6% of the vote.

After Britain's Got Talent, Chandler left Jack Pack and was replaced by Martin McCafferty. The band signed a record deal with Syco Music.^[15] On 30 October 2015, Jack Pack released their eponymous debut album.

Darcy Oake

Darcy Oake is an illusionist from Winnipeg, Canada. In his audition for Britain's Got Talent, he massively impressed both the judges and the audience, to the extent that Simon Cowell called Oake "without question the best magician ever on Britain's Got Talent."^[16] His audition has been viewed over 67 million times on YouTube.^[17]

For his semi-final act, he performed a teleportation illusion. The act placed him in the top three, and after a split judges' vote, it was revealed he was second and sent to the final, making him the first ever magician to make the final of Britain's Got Talent.^[18]

His performance in the final was "Time of the Essence" where he was hung upside down within an open human bear trap. He escaped in 52 seconds, right before trap closed, which would have killed him. Oake came 5th overall (8.5%), the third closest a magician has come to winning Britain's Got Talent next to 2016 winner Richard Jones and 2015 runner up Jamie Raven.^[19]

In December 2014, he had his own ITV show called Darcy Oake: Edge of Reality, which was hosted by Christine Bleakley.

James Smith

James Smith (born 9 February 1999) is a 16-year-old singer/guitarist from Essex. Smith comes from a non-musical family and his father works a stall selling toiletries.

Jon Clegg

Jonathan "Jon" Clegg (born 1977/78) is a comedian and impressionist from Horley, Surrey, but is originally from Crawley. In his audition, he did impressions of Alan Carr, Marcus Bentley, Homer and Marge Simpson. He was eliminated in the first semi final but came back to the final as the Wildcard.

Lettice Rowbotham

Lettice Rose Rowbotham is a violinist from Dorking, Surrey.^[20] At the age of four years, she was given a plastic violin, and was given a real violin shortly after.^[21] She has played for Vladimir Putin's daughter among other people.^[22] She also has a YouTube channel, uploading videos of her playing the violin. Throughout the series, she became known for her personality along with her unusual name. She also became known for supposedly being hung over at her audition.^[23] In the final, she performed "Bring Me to Life". She also sang a verse of the song.

Paddy & Nico

Paddy & Nico are a salsa dance duo consisting of Sarah Patricia "Paddy" Jones, a 79-year-old widow, and Nicolás "Nico" Espinosa who is from Gandia, Spain. At their audition, Amanda Holden pressed the Golden Buzzer, sending them straight through to the live shows.

However, just days before their semi final performance, it was reported that they had withdrawn due to injury in rehearsals. But Paddy received an all clear and came back on to the show where they advanced to the final in the judge's choice.

Their final performance was trouble free and received a standing ovation. They finished in 9th place.

The Addict Initiative

The Addict Initiative are a dance group from Leicester. They performed horror dance routines with a storyline. They came in 10th place in the final.

Yanis Marshall, Arnaud and Mehdi

Yanis Marshall, Arnaud and Mehdi are dancers from France, who specialise in dancing in high heels.^[24] They placed last in the final, receiving 1% of the votes.^[25] Cowell pressed his buzzer during their performance, which was the first time ever that an act was buzzed in a final.

References