Magazine-April-06-QXD6 (Page 1 - 2) - EADA

BEN & BECKY'SBRITAIN'S GOT TALENT DIARYYou may have taken time out from the WinterGardens to watch them on TV - Ben & Beckyexplain what went on behind the scenes.Autumn 2008 - We saw an advert for the nextseries of Britain's Got Talent online. Luke &Charlotte did so well in the first series, butBallroom and Latin weren't represented in thesecond series so we thought we should give ita go and we sent in an application form.November 2008 - We went to the 'Producer'saudition' in which you go in a small room with aproducer and a camera man. We performed ourJive routine to Rockin' Robin and they asked forextra filming, which included walking in a trainstation in our Latin outfits (which was freezing!)December 2008 - We received a letter saying wehad made it through to the judge's stage inFebruary.February 2009 - Our friends and family camealong on the day to support us and we auditionedin front of Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden andSimon Cowell. We treated it like a competition,but were more nervous than any competition orshow we've ever done! They asked us a fewquestions and then it was time for ourchoreography. We chose the music for thisaudition and we choreographed it with our Latincoach. We received a standing ovation - althoughthat wasn't shown on the TV; Piers Morgan saidwe could win the whole show. We received threeyeses from the judges and went home elated.6March 2009 - The next stage was the 'reveal'where they tell you if you are in the top 40 andthrough to the semi-finals. We had to go toWembley where we sat waiting for a whole day,with over 150 acts. They filmed more interviews,then after more waiting, we were transferred bybus to Lancaster House where we had to walkdown in groups of five to the judges. We weresitting next to Julian Smith, who we began tospeak to and who has now become a good friend- he has even been to competitions to see usdance. Also in our group were Hollie, Julia andCallum - we were all nervous walking into seethe judges. The judges explained how tough thedecision was and Simon said they were judging iton whether or not they felt the acts could winoverall. Amanda delivered the news that we werethrough and we were all delighted. We made ourway out to more interviews and were then askedto go through for an interview with StephenMulhern of ITV2. We had a great time, having ajoke with him. He didn't know we were brotherand sister and asked us if we were boyfriend andgirlfriend! Stephen was one of the best parts ofthe show - he is really genuine and a hilariousguy. The top 40 acts were then asked to stand onthe stage behind Ant and Dec and wave whilethey did their 'link' for the show. We were alsosworn to secrecy about being in the semi-finals,which was one of the hardest parts of the wholeexperience.April 2009 - The next few weeks includedlawyers meetings and management meetings todiscuss the contracts and work following theshow.May 2009 - We had to go to the choreographersfor the first time and they said what we did in ourfirst audition would be too “small” for the liveshows. We gave them a selection of tracks, andour first choices for the semi-final were'Candyman' or 'The Boy Does Nothing'. However,the producers chose 'Land of 1000 Dances'. Wefelt that the song was far too slow and didn't giveus enough time to dance. They asked us to havemore dancing apart facing the audience and morelifts. This part put a bit of a downer on theexperience but we worked hard for over a month.Our audition on TV - We weren't shown until thelast week of auditions. We had lots of family andfriends round for a 'BGT party'. Everyone wentcrazy when we came on the TV. Our audition wascut down a lot, the judges' comments werepositive, but not the best of what they had said.We were in the Tuesday semi-final, which meantthree days time.The semi-finals - We were taken to London by achauffeur and stayed in the Wembley Park Hotelfrom Monday night. After having a nerve-rackingfirst rehearsal on the Friday before where we sawthe studio for the first time (which is tinycompared to how it appears on TV) we felt wewere ready to give the performance of our life,even though we were not 100% confident withthe song and routine. After watching the Mondaynight semi-final in the hotel it started to hit us -15 million people were tuning in every night.The night before we both got as much sleep aswe could before having to wake up early to go tothe studios. The day consisted of hair and makeup(everyone backstage was lovely) before morerehearsals and dress rehearsals. It was a verylong day but began to speed up quickly when theaudience started to come in. We waitedbackstage in a corridor in a long line. We knewwe had stiff competition from the likes ofShaheen Jaforgoli and Stavros Flatley but weremained positive. We heard the music for thetitle sequence come on and the nerves hiteveryone. Pacing up and down the corridor wasour way of calming our nerves. We were third onand before we knew it we were put on the stairsin front of the judges with our video tape (VT)playing in the back. Ant and Dec introduced usand the music began to play, everything wentaccording to plan, even some of the tricky lifts wehad literally put in days before. That was it, it wasover in a flash. We stood with Ant and Dec toreceive the comments from the judges.Simon was first, and was extremely harsh,however now having watched it back we can seewhere he was coming from. Becky was upsetbecause the criticism of the track and the loss ofconnection were a result of the advice we hadtaken beforehand. Piers and Amanda werepositive so we left the stage feeling slightlyembarrassed but also extremely annoyed. Wewished we could have performed to the track wewanted. We did not argue with the judgesbecause we did not want to come across sour ontelevision.The results show came around and we didn'texpect to be in the top three. We weresurprisingly calm as we waited. We would like tothank everyone who supported us that night andstill voted for us after a performance that did notlive up to what we are capable of.We thought we were going home, when we wereasked to go back upstairs for an interview. Wewere the only act to get a spot on this show whodidn't get through!After it was all over, we came home to see 100sof emails, messages and texts from everyonewho had supported us, including completestrangers from all over the world! It really meanta lot and boosted us after feeling low.We met some best friends for life and had a greattime, although perhaps regretting we didn't usethe track we wanted to. People have emailed ussaying they are starting dancing because of uswhich is great. We are now back to the realitiesof intensive training and the competition floor.7