Britain's Got Talent (series 5)

Judges

For the first time since Britain's Got Talent began, there was a permanent change to the judging panel. In October 2010, Piers Morgan announced he was leaving the show due to hosting his new talk show Piers Morgan Tonight in America and he was unable to do both. In December 2010, Simon Cowell confirmed that he would only be present at the live shows as he would also be busy in America launching The X Factor USA. Therefore, comedian Michael McIntyre and former America's Got Talent judge David Hasselhoff were added to the panel with Amanda Holden. There were also guest judges planned for the auditions due to the success of the guest judges on The X Factor, but no guest judges appeared. Hasselhoff was unable to attend the London auditions, so The X Factor judge Louis Walsh took his place.

Auditions

Auditions took place in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Birmingham. Liverpool also hosted auditions for the first time. The auditions started in London between 4 and 6 January and continued on 13 and 14 January in Manchester and 18 January in Glasgow. Auditions also took place on 21 January in Liverpool, 25 and 26 January in Cardiff and 30 and 31 January in Birmingham. During the Liverpool auditions, Michael McIntyre won an award in The British Comedy Awards for Best Male Comic. He received the award in a live video message. During the Cardiff auditions, Ant & Dec won an award in the National Television Awards for "Most Popular Entertainment Presenters". They gave their winning speech in a live video message and asked Simon Cowell to collect their award. In March, Cowell stated that he wanted extra auditions as he thought that the current judges had failed to find the next Paul Potts or Susan Boyle. Cowell was keen to cast the show's nets even further and trawl through thousands of online videos on YouTube in the hope of discovering talent. An insider told the Daily Star: "Cowell's announcement is going to turn the show on its head." Studio auditions for the successful YouTube acts were held on 3 April in Birmingham.

Episode 1 was broadcast on 16 April. Auditions started off in Liverpool and Birmingham. Episode 2 showcased Manchester, Glasgow and a YouTube audition. Episode 3 featured London auditions. More Manchester auditions were shown during Episode 4 along with Cardiff and Birmingham auditions. More Manchester auditions were broadcast during Episode 5, along with more Liverpool and Glasgow auditions. Episode 6 featured more Cardiff, Manchester and London auditions. Episode 7 was due to be broadcast on 28 May but was pushed back to 29 May due to the Champions League Final being played on that day (the 28th). Episode 7 showcased acts from all the cities where the auditions were held. It also featured the judges making decisions on whom to send through to the semi finals.

Semi-finals

For the first time ever on Britain's Got Talent, some of the acts were asked to perform again as the judges were having difficulty coming to a final decision on whom to send through to the semi-finals. However, Lorna Bliss originally did not get through, but she was called back by David Hasselhoff.

The live shows started on Monday 30 May. Simon Cowell joined the panel along with Hasselhoff, Holden and McIntyre. The live shows had a £1 million revamp. Holden and the cast of Shrek the Musical performed on Tuesday's results show, whilst Avril Lavigne appeared on Wednesday's results show, Jessie J on Thursday's semi-final, and JLS and Diversity on Friday.

The rules relating to judges' votes in the results show changed from previous series. In the past, the decision as to which act was sent through to the finals was made by the three judges (from which there would always be a majority). With four judges, if there was a two-way tie the act with the second highest number of votes from the public would be sent through to the finals, otherwise the judges' decision would stand.

Semi-finals summary

The "Order" columns list the order of appearance each act made for every episode.

Semi-final 1 (30 May 2011)

Semi-final 2 (31 May 2011)

Semi-final 3 (1 June 2011)

Semi-final 4 (2 June 2011)

Semi-final 5 (3 June 2011)

Final (4 June)

The live final was held on Saturday 4 June. Each of the ten acts performed in front of the judges and vying for the public vote. Jackie Evancho and Nicole Scherzinger performed on Saturday's final. Evancho performed on the main show whereas Scherzinger performed on the results show.

The results were revealed one by one from tenth place up to fourth place. This left the top three from whom, Ant & Dec revealed the third place finisher. This left the two with the highest public vote and the final result was then revealed. The winner (Jai McDowall) was then invited to sing again before being joined by family and friends on-stage to celebrate the victory.

Guest performers: Jackie Evancho – "Nessun dorma" and Nicole Scherzinger – "Right There"

Low quality of performances

During the semi-final, a high number of acts were buzzed by the judges. Some of the acts were questioned by Cowell, who had not been present for the auditions, about why they got through. In a more recent interview, Ant and Dec mentioned this had been a poor series of the show.

Herbie Armstrong

Northern Irish contestant Herbie Armstrong caused controversy after it was revealed he had previously appeared on Top of the Pops and had chart success with Yellow Dog and Fox, and had played in Van Morrison's band. Armstrong defended his decision to compete, stating "I was always the back room boy before. Besides it’s called Britain’s Got Talent, not Newcomers Have Talent".

Jessica Hobson

During the fourth semi-final, judges Cowell and Hasselhoff slated Jessica Hobson's performance, causing her to burst into tears on stage. She complained that she had had no say in her choice because producers has selected the song and how it was to be performed, but was quickly ushered off by Ant and Dec after her protest. Several viewers took to social networks forums and Twitter to complain that Hobson had been "set up" by Cowell and producers. However, Britain's Got More Talent presenter Stephen Mulhern defended the programme, claiming "The producers want the show to be right and they want performers and the auditionees to be the best they can be. So they'll help them, they'll support them, they'll guide them". Hobson has since appeared on The Voice UK.

Ronan Parke

During the semi-finals, a blog, claimed to be by an executive at Syco, said that the show was fixed for Ronan Parke to win, that Syco had been grooming him for two years and that he had already been signed to the record label. Parke's mother dismissed the claims as "laughable". Cowell reportedly called in police to investigate so the blogger could be tracked down, and police confirmed: "An allegation of malicious communications was made to Kensington and Chelsea police. The allegation is being considered." Syco released a statement saying, "There has been speculation on the internet that Britain's Got Talent finalist Ronan Parke was known to and worked with Syco/Sony Music before entering the show. There is no truth in this story whatsoever. Ronan first came to Syco/Sony's attention when he entered this year's competition."