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Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has defended her choice of Golden Buzzer act after facing a backlash over the decision.
In last week’s episode, Amanda was reduced to tears as she chose to press the Golden Buzzer for mother-daughter duo Sammy and Honey, automatically securing them a place in this year’s live shows (whenever they may be).
Teenager Honey told the panel she’d had a difficult few years after her mum received treatment for cancer, with Sammy assuring them she’s now “absolutely fine”.
But their performance may have earned them the Golden Buzzer from Mandy, many viewers on social media voiced the opinion that other acts were more deserving, particularly after Simon Cowell was initially unimpressed with their first performance.
Despite the backlash, Amanda has now insisted that she’s standing by her heartfelt choice.
“For me, I think it was their relationship,” she explained during an interview on The One Show on Thursday night. “The minute that Honey stepped on stage, she reminded so much of my elder daughter, Lexi.
“I think their harmonies were amazing, and the fact that they were real troopers! The fact that they came back. The audition went completely wrong, to start with.
“I think, the normal Golden Buzzer, where you know the audience are getting on their feet and you can sense it coming. It felt a lot more emotional to me [to give it to Sammy and Honey]. It was all about those two girls.”
Amanda added: “It’s the relationship, and the chemistry, and the way they kinda fought back… and I kinda wanted to give them the chance.”
As we approach the end of this year’s BGT auditions, the show will be back later in the year for the 2020 live shows, which have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with HuffPost UK this week, Amanda insisted that they would not want to do live shows without an audience, explaining: “We would never do it without an audience because we’ve always said the British public is the fifth judge. So we can’t do it without them – it would be no fun without them! We’ll see what happens, but we are planning to do it this year.
“Simon has fought very hard for it to be on now, in its normal slot, and it celebrates Britain at its best. All our eccentricities, our nuttiness, and being able to laugh at ourselves is how we get through everything – we’ve got to still find the light in the dark.”