Supermarket worker Stacey Leadbetter, 31, took to the stage on Saturday night with a rendition of the hit song Run, as released by Snow Patrol in 2004 and covered by X-Factor winner Leona Lewis in 2008.
Following the performance, fans rose to their feet with a chant of ‘press the buzzer,’ sending supermarket chicken roaster Stacey into floods of tears.
‘Says it all,’ Simon Cowell said, amid the chanting and rapturous applause from the audience.
‘I felt absolutely every single word of that. You’re amazing,’ Amanda Holden agreed.
And, as boxer, musician and YouTube sensation KSI slammed the golden buzzer – sending Stacey straight through to the semi-finals – viewers became convinced that the ITV show had just found its winner.
Writing on X as the audition aired, fans shared their predictions on Stacey’s future in the show.
‘Stacey Leadbetter! She could win the whole thing this season with that voice. Stunning. Great song choice too,’ wrote Drew.
‘Got to be one of the favorites to win,’ agreed Steven Wilcox.
‘She’s definitely destined for for stardom . Bye Bye cooked chicken. She’s fab,’ added Grace Kelly.
Meanwhile, others were reminded of the history-making success of 2009 runner-up Susan Boyle, with RedPaul writing: ‘Susan Boyle moment right there.’
Yorkshire lass Stacey had support in the audience from her friend, her mum, and her 10-year-old daughter.
Following the audition, The Daily Mail revealed how Stacey had to retrain her voice due to a speech impediment.
‘It is extremely hard. I have a video of me singing from four or five years ago and you couldn’t actually understand properly what I was singing due to the severity of speech impediments,’ Stacey said.
‘So during lockdown I used to sit through like adult speech therapy sessions on YouTube and then I’d introduced it into my singing.’
She continued: ‘If I don’t do certain exercises for say a couple of weeks at a time, I will start to revert back to how I was.’
This followed years of bullying during her teenage years. ‘In high school I used to stutter a bit and people would mimic me,’ Stacey added.
‘Children unfortunately sometimes can be a bit harsh and I wasn’t the popular girl at school.’
Stacey’s performance was in stark contrast to some of the acts which followed – including the chaotic daredevil troupe The Lazy Generation.
The Jackass-inspired act were already familiar to Simon, who watched them reach the semi-finals of spin-off series America’s Got Talent in 2022.
British viewers were shocked as the group embarked upon a series of dangerous challenges which left both the judges and audience reeling
Kicking off with a ‘human long jump,’ one member of the group took a running leap across the stage, landing on one of his co-performers.
The group then left viewers wincing as two of their number enlisted Simon to snap a huge elastic band across their bare chests. Ant and Dec were then called upon to do the same for another performer’s buttocks.
Another stunt included running (blindfolded) on a treadmill over plugs, LEGO and small plastic toys.
The judges were left aghast but ultimately impressed, with Simon declaring the act ‘beautiful.’
Viewers were more divided, with Derek Harcourt writing on X: ‘If the lazy generation don’t win #BGT it’s a travesty, best act ever on it.’
‘The Lazy Generation was such a weird, strange act but so funny and entertaining 🤣 loved it,’ agreed David O’Connor.
However, others were less impressed by the gang’s behaviour – demonstrating acts of violence reminiscent of last week’s sword-swallowing showboat Auzzy Blood.
‘Am I missing something? Sense of humour maybe?’ asked Pauline Smith.
‘There literally is no talent left in Britain because what that actual hell was The Lazy Generation?? It wasn’t funny or entertaining, it was just stupid boy humour omg,’ compained Samaaaa.
From the sublime to the ridiculous, as the saying goes.
Britain’s Got Talent airs Saturdays on ITV1 and ITVX.
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