Ant and Dec have broken their silence on the Britain's Got Talent result, congratulating 2022 winner Axel Balke as fans accuse the outcome of being 'fixed.'
Comedian Axel was one of the most talked about acts on the ITV show this year, right from his very first audition, when he impressed notoriously hard to please judge Simon Cowell so much that he hit the Golden Buzzer for him, sending him straight through to the live semi finals. In the aftermath of 34-year-old Axel's first audition there was some backlash online after viewers discovered that he already had his own TV show on Amazon Prime and this was fuelled further when Axel himself admitted he'd played at the O2 Indigo in London.
However, for all the sceptics, Britain's Got Talent voting figures, released late on Sunday night, showed that Axel won the lion's share of the vote in his semi final last week and then finished five per cent ahead of eventual runner up Jamie Leahey in the grand final, one of the closest in the show's history. Axel dropped to the floor as Ant and Dec called his name as winner, with Simon looking delighted with the result.
READ MORE : Britain's Got Talent voting figures expose unexpected results
And, after being 'wound up' by the result and the fact it meant a win for Simon, the Geordie hosts took to Twitter to react to a memorable night at the end of Britain's Got Talent' s first series in nearly two years. Posting a picture of themselves with 2022 champion Axel on social media, they wrote: "A HUGE congratulations to @axelblake_ the winner of @BGT 2022! What a brilliant series, we’ve loved being back! Thank you all for watching and supporting this year’s incredible talent."
Ant and Dec's many fans were quick to respond to their post, with all manner of opinions and some arguing that the result was fixed. One unimpressed viewer replied: " #BGT should only allow new acts to appear instead of acts who've already had a chance. Runners up were robbed." Equally unhappy with the outcome, another told the presenters: "If people spend money on votes they should know all the facts. People were told about Loren Allred's history. Were they told about Axel's? I certainly didn't know until now. People have threw away money. The show should be about NEW talent."
A third reacted: "I am sorry, a professional should never be allowed to compete in what should be an amateur talent show. I shall not be watching any future series of #bgt as this has so obviously been a fix from start to finish."
However, others, like Ant and Dec, were quick to celebrate Axel's win, with one fan commenting: "He deserved to win this he had me in stitches. So what if he has his own show blah blah blah why people trying to take his shine away ..matter who one people would complain."
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