Who are the Britain's Got Talent 2024 finalists?
The ITV show is almost ready to crown its winner
Britain's Got Talent has confirmed the acts who have made it through to Sunday's grand final, with Simon Cowell and co getting ready to watch the winner crowned by the show's fans.
An exciting week of semi-finals has seen thrills and spills as some viewer favourites have sailed through to the final, while others who seemed like sure bets fell by the wayside. Each live show put the act with the most votes straight through to the final, while the judges chose a second act to join them from the two runners up.
The ITV show's 2024 finalists are now within touching distance of the £250,000 jackpot and the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, with Cowell and fellow judges Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli now left to take a step back and let the viewers decide who their winner is on Sunday night.
This year's series has been an entertaining one, with the Golden Buzzer rules seemingly thrown out of the window. Each panellist (and hosts Ant and Dec) are supposed to have one Golden Buzzer to automatically send an act through to the semis – but they got trigger happy this year, bashing the button a whopping nine times.
But while the semi-finals are over, there is still a wild card choice to be announced during Sunday's show, giving one act the chance to join these 2024 finalists.
Jack Rhodes
Magician Rhodes won Tuesday night's semi-final with an impressive routine that saw him vanish from the inside of an exploding box – then crawl out of a TV screen.
Dixon said the trickster had delivered a "masterclass" in magic and Tonioli said he thought it was the best magic act he'd seen. Cowell declared Rhodes was "one in a million", adding: "I think you, right now, are the favourite to win the entire competition."
Rhodes, 26, is a former nuclear engineer but has said he loved magic from childhood and decided to change direction and see if he could turn his hobby into a career.
He has previously shared that while his wife has been in the BGT audience supporting him, his family hasn't been there. "To be honest, I didn’t want them in the theatre as they’d be too distracting and probably heckling me,” he told OK! magazine.
Haribow
Double Dutch group Haribow are from Japan and travelled 20 hours to audition for the talent show. Their quickfire skipping routine went down a storm with the audience and they ended up getting a surprise Golden Buzzer – the ninth this year – with Cowell's son Eric and Holden's daughter Hollie jumping up from their seats to press the button.
Haribow stepped things up in their semi-final performance on Tuesday, with an energetic performance that saw them performing flips and leaps through double skipping ropes, and ended up in the top three with magician Rhodes and choir Ravi's Dream Team.
After Rhodes went through to the final automatically, the judges struggled to pick between the skipping troupe and the choir and ended up with a tied decision. That meant it was thrown to the public vote, which Haribow won.
Innocent Masuku
Opera singer Masuku, who is from South Africa, has dazzled the judges and viewers with his incredible voice. Masuku, a former studio member of the Cape Town opera, blew everyone away with his rendition of Caruso at the audition stage, and Holden even said he was the best opera singer in the programme's history.
The singer, who got married this year, told the panel that he'd suffered some knockbacks and that he'd been told he wouldn't make it in opera. But they disagreed, and although he didn't manage to secure a Golden Buzzer he is being seen as a frontrunner in the competition.
He was the first act to get into the final during Monday's show, winning the first semi-final after the public vote. Appearing on This Morning on Tuesday, he said it felt "overwhelming and unbelievable". He said: "It was absolutely mind-blowing when I heard that I was the one chosen, like, 'Wow me?'"
The singer, 33, and his new wife have yet to take their honeymoon, and he joked that the BGT money prize would help. "If we win this money, might as well," he laughed.
Ssaulabi Performance Troupe
Taekwondo group Ssaulabi travelled all the way from South Korea to perform on Britain's Got Talent. Their stunts wowed the crowd when they first auditioned, with the judges and audience rising to their feet after watching them flip through the air smashing planks of wood with their bare hands and feet.
Hosts Ant and Dec used their Golden Buzzer, with Dec laughing: "I've never felt so alive!" After their semi-final performance on Monday, Ant joked that he was as proud as he was when he welcomed his baby boy Wilder earlier this month.
The troupe – who range in age from 19 to 23 – made it through to the final after finding themselves in the top three with Innocent Masuku and dog act The Trickstars.
Masuku went through as he had the highest number of viewer votes, and the judges unanimously picked the martial arts group to progress in the competition.
Sydnie Christmas
Singer Sydnie Christmas, 28, made it through the final after her performance on Wednesday – one that was so good, it managed to bring the entire venue to its feet delivering her a standing ovation.
Christmas sang her rendition of Frank Sinatra's timeless hit My Way, something that felt apt following recent online criticism that she had received after revealing her musical theatre background.
Prior to appearing on Britain's Got Talent, Christmas had performed on cruise ships and as Rizzo in a stage rendition of Grease. She's also appeared in a range of shows including David Bowie's Lazarus and Starlight Express but assured viewers she had no West End experience.
Her fast track to the final may change that though, putting her on the road to performing at this year's Royal Variety show.
Mike Woodhams
Musical impressionist Mike Woodhams was a favourite from the audition stage, where the judges were tickled by his unusual act. Woodhams is a vocal coach and musician, and his act sees him taking off a raft of famous singers, including Cher, Shakira, Anastacia and Ronan Keating.
He went down particularly well with Cowell, who told him after his first audition: "You're the kind of act that could win this whole show.”
Woodhams was on stage during Wednesday's final, ending up in the top three with Christmas and dancer LeightonJay Halliday. After Christmas won the public vote, the panel had to choose between the two acts.
They were split down the middle, which meant the public vote was the decider, and Woodhams went through.
Abigail & Afronitaaa
After a tense semi-final heat on Thursday (30 May), Abigail & Afronitaaa managed to secure their place in the final after winning the public vote early doors.
The dance duo from Ghana wowed with a performance which paid tribute to their roots, while incorporating elements of Beyoncé's megahit Run the World and Feels Like Home by Signal, Fuse ODG and Sean Paul.
Their dance routine impressed the judges with Amanda Holden saying it was "undeniably unbelievable." The public agreed and after the vote, they were through to the final.
Northants Sings Out
Choir Northants Sings Out features singers as young as 25 and as experienced as 65. The group reached the BGT final after stunning viewers with a performance at Thursday's semi-finals.
With the competition heating up, they pulled out all the stops, performing a rendition of the classic hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful that melded its way into Dreamer by Livin' Joy.
This uplifting experience impressed the infamously hard-to-impress Simon, who said: "I think the reason choirs haven't done so well over the years is because they choose boring songs – and you didn't'."
With the judges throwing the vote out to the public, the choir managed to secure their place in Sunday's final.
Alex Mitchell
The primary school teacher lived out his stand-up comedy dreams in the last semi-final by taking to the stage at the Hammersmith Apollo, where many of his idols had performed before him.
Mitchell was emotional as he spoke about how his neurological condition, which causes tics that he pokes fun at in his routine, had affected him and dedicated his success to others who felt they might not fit in.
Things were set to get even better for the comedian as he was told he had won the public vote. He said: "I don't think you'll ever understand as a comedian who looks and sounds like me, playing the Hammersmith Apollo...this was everything."
Trixy
Magician Trixy was a firm judge favourite from his first appearance, and even outing Alesha Dixon's pre-record performance at the start of his act couldn't hurt his chances of making the final.
Every judge apart from Bruno Tonioli voted for him over blind husband-and-wife music duo Denise and Stefan, a rare occurrence for this year's semi-finals where most decisions were allowed to go back to the public vote.
Viewers were impressed by an interactive calculator trick which saw Trixy correctly predict the date and time of his performance by asking the judges to contribute seemingly random numbers to a sum. He also included a crowd-pleasing move by bringing back former contestant Toni Kaku.
Wild Card
You heard them! A Wildcard WILL be chosen for Sunday's Grand Final! 😱
Find out who that'll be on Sunday 2nd June at 7:30pm on @ITV 1, @ITVX and @WeAreSTV.#BGT #BritainsGotTalent pic.twitter.com/DuT7rwaTPu— BGT (@BGT) May 31, 2024
Simon Cowell confirmed during Friday's semi-final that the judges would be bringing back a wild card in the finale, but viewers will have to wait for the big reveal on Sunday.
The wild card allows judges to pick one act who didn't make it through the semi-final vote, but that they would like to see given one more shot at winning.
Popular fan choices for the wild card this year have included Ravi's Dream Team and Denise and Stefan.
Who will win Britain's Got Talent 2024?
Ahead of Sunday's final, there is a clear bookies' favourite to be crowned the series champion - and she has been a popular choice with viewers and judges since her first appearance.
Singer Sydnie Christmas is the favourite to win with William Hill offering odds of 4/7 a day before the final. Christmas blew the judges away in her first audition, with Amanda Holden declaring her version of musicals classic Tomorrow like nothing she'd ever heard before.
The Golden Buzzer act also stormed through her semi-final, but will have some tough competition from nearest rival Alex Mitchell who has odds of 4/1. Their next closest rival act is Abigail & Afronitaa, with odds of 6/1.
The Britain's Got Talent final will air on ITV on Sunday, 2 June from 7.30pm