As Britain’s Acquired Expertise returns to our screens, we keep in mind the BGT contestants who’ve tragically handed away through the years
This yr’s Britain’s Acquired Expertise judges and hosts (Picture: Neil Mockford, WireImagevia Getty Photos)
Britain’s Acquired Expertise returns to our screens this night.
Ant and Dec are set to current the ITV expertise competitors as soon as extra, alongside the judging panel of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and newcomer KSI, as they seek for the nation’s most gifted performer vying for the chance to seem earlier than royalty on the Royal Selection Efficiency.
Since its debut in 2007, Britain’s Acquired Expertise has propelled quite a few gifted people who graced its stage into stardom. Susan Boyle’s unforgettable efficiency of I Dreamed A Dream stays iconic, while dance group Variety and vocalist Paul Potts equally achieved exceptional success of their respective fields.
But beneath the glamour, there have been heartbreaking losses amongst those that featured on the programme. Right here we share the BGT performers whose lives resulted in tragic circumstances.
Chantel Bellew
The most recent loss amongst former contestants was Chantel Bellew, celebrated for her distinctive faucet dancing talents. She progressed to the semi-finals in 2019 and memorably taught Strictly Come Dancing choose Anton Du Beke faucet dancing strategies.
Heartbreakingly, aged simply 34, she took her personal life, a coroner decided, following an overdose mere weeks after her birthday.
Her mom has subsequently mentioned Chantel’s difficulties, which intensified as her profession faltered, and she or he was believed to have skilled a psychological breakdown.
Chantel Bellew was on the 2019 sequence of BGT (Picture: ITV)
Paula Moulton
The dance duo, often called Strictly Wheels, took half within the 2012 sequence of the programme and consisted of Paula Moulton and Gary Lyness.
Tragically, Paula died unexpectedly in 2024 aged 52, having beforehand contracted MRSA and been residing with accidents to her pelvis, decrease backbone, femur and hips.
In tribute to his dancing companion, Gary stated on the time: “Paula at all times targeted on the constructive issues in life; her incapacity was by no means a barrier. She needs to be remembered for all of the positivity she introduced into the numerous lives she touched.”
Paula Moulton died age 52 (Picture: Each day Mirror)
Simonne Kerr
Simonne was a part of the 60-strong NHS choir B Constructive, which auditioned for the programme in 2018. The ensemble comprised workers, donors, and sufferers from NHS Blood and Transplant, and their shifting performances carried them via to the ultimate levels of the competitors.
While showing on Britain’s Acquired Expertise, the singer and nurse was mourning the dying of her six yr outdated son Kavele, who died from sickle cell illness in 2015. Shortly afterwards, at 31, Simonne misplaced her life in a horrific stabbing.
She was murdered by her companion, Desmond Dylva, who in July 2019 was handed a life sentence for her killing. Her hospital colleagues paid tribute, describing her as “one in 1,000,000”.
Simonne Kerr and her son (Picture: undefined)
Emma Jones
Many will recall Emma from Cumbria for her beautiful vocal efficiency throughout her preliminary audition in 2015. She progressed to the semi-finals of the sequence following a rendition that Amanda Holden described as “probably the most lovely auditions”.
At simply 32, it was confirmed in 2025 that Emma had died on Valentine’s Day following a a number of organ most cancers analysis.
The announcement was made on her Fb web page, the place the assertion revealed that docs believed it originated as ovarian most cancers, which subsequently unfold to her organs.
Emma Jones died from most cancers (Picture: ITV)
David Watson
This contestant held the excellence of showing on the programme not as soon as, however 12 instances. The Altrincham magician initially auditioned in 2008, presenting impressions of politicians and celebrities, earlier than returning in 2010.
With an abundance of leisure, David established himself as an everyday presence on the Britain’s Acquired Expertise auditions, with amusing efforts to impress the judges yr after yr. Nonetheless, in 2020 he achieved success when, for the primary time, he superior to the competitors’s second spherical.
Tragically, in 2021, Watson was discovered lifeless at his dwelling, reportedly after his household raised considerations once they have been unable to achieve him. His dying was dominated non-suspicious.
David J Watson has appeared on Britain’s Acquired Expertise twelve instances. (Picture: ITV/Britain’s Acquired Expertise)
Robert Anker
Robert was a part of the legendary Variety dance group who claimed victory on Britain’s Acquired Expertise in 2009.
Throughout his time with the ensemble, Robert loved a exceptional profession, showing on So You Assume You Can Dance? and Strictly Come Dancing, while working with a few of pop music’s most distinguished artists.
In 2017, he selected to maneuver overseas along with his spouse, Cyndi, and the couple relocated to Canada. Sadly, he was killed in a motorized vehicle collision in Ontario on the age of simply 27.
Robert Anker died in a automotive accident (Picture: Each day Mirror)
Jack Saunders
Inexperienced Drive 5 have been a five-member dance troupe that progressed to the semi-finals in 2019, earlier than withdrawing from the competition following the premature dying of Jack Saunders.
Earlier than BGT he had already established a thriving dance profession, collaborating within the London Olympics and reaching the Acquired To Dance finals.
Jack, aged solely 25, tragically ended his personal life in March 2019, leaving his household and mates heartbroken. Following his dying, his mom, Sandra, revealed, “I need folks to know this may occur to any household. There isn’t any stereotype – it does not must be a manic depressive who has proven indicators of psychological well being issues.
“Jack was a sort soul. He fearful about everybody else, at all times targeted on others to ensure they have been OK. He was the shoulder you cried on.”
Jack Saunders and girlfriend Frankie (Picture: fb)
Norma Clarke
Higher recognised as ‘Granny Rapper’, Norma Clarke grew to become a viewer favorite of the expertise programme when she auditioned in 2007. Her act brought about a stir when audiences witnessed her sporting a hoodie and baseball cap, enhancing the comedy of her routine, which noticed her advance to the boot camp spherical.
Viewers have cherished her as a BGT legend for years, proper up till her dying in 2019, on the age of 81. The good-grandmother died in hospital following a chronic sickness.
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Her daughter Amanda has since revealed that her preliminary motivation for collaborating within the present was to safe the £100,000 prize cash to finance a neighborhood centre for the kids in her neighbourhood. She recollects her mom as being “such a personality” who might be remembered by many.
Britain’s Acquired Expertise Norma Clarke “Granny rapper” (Picture: YouTube)
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