Last-minute song change helps Sampson win contest

BRITAIN’s Got Talent winner George Sampson yesterday said he believes a last-minute song change helped him to victory.

The 14-year-old dancer from Warrington, who beat nine other acts to win the contest, had been due to perform to a Bee Gees track.

But Sampson changed his mind just an hour before he was due to go on stage and opted to repeat his dance performance of Singing in the Rain, which had got him through to the final.

He said: “I wasn’t sure about the choice of song and, about an hour beforehand, we changed it back.

“I didn’t know about switching my act at the last minute but I went to Simon Cowell and he said: ‘You should do it because there have been so many requests for Singing in the Rain.’

“He said: ‘As long as you top it, you’ll get the greatest comments.’

“I probably wouldn’t have won if I’d done the Bee Gees.”

Sampson, who was knocked out in the preliminary stages of last year’s contest, will appear at the Royal Variety Performance and take home £100,000 (€127,361) in prize money.

He said: “This is the top of the triangle, like the star on the Christmas tree. I’ve danced on many stages since being six, but the Royal Variety is the biggest variety show of all time.”

He plans to spend his money paying off his mother Lesley’s mortgage to thank her for paying for his dance lessons.

Ms Sampson spoke of her pride in her son, who performed his dance act on the streets of Manchester and Liverpool before appearing in the talent contest.

“He’s a people person, everybody loves George. He was my winner anyway for being a nice person.”

Sampson will join the show’s other finalists on stage for a live UK tour, which starts this Friday.

Before rehearsals begin, he will be returning home, however, to sit his mock GCSE music exam.

He said: “I’ve not had much time to revise but, hopefully, it should be okay.”

Britain’s Got Talent’s ratings peaked at 14.4 million viewers on Saturday night, making it the highest-rated entertainment show so far this year.