Britain’s Got Talent magician Harry Moulding has set the record straight about his semi-final act last Saturday after fans were adamant it was fixed and non-deserving of KSI’s Golden Buzzer.
The 24-year-old performer promised to provide a moment of “real magic” before correctly predicting audience members’ names, seat numbers and answers to questions.
However, viewers have been left divided over the authenticity of the act, with many branding it a “fix” and “set up” on social media, whilst the newly engaged couple has hit back at the criticism.
The routine led up to a woman named Jess being brought up on stage to watch a video recorded 48 hours before in Paris, which showed Harry accurately predicting Bruno Mars, audience seat numbers and the number 178.
However, the surprises didn’t end there as Harry then “bumped” into Jess’s boyfriend, also named Harry.
The magician then asked him a series of questions about his wedding plans, with the answers being French capital, Bruno Mars and 178. He then appeared on stage and proposed to Jess, which she tearfully accepted.
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Jess, who is a TikTok star with more than 80,000 followers on the platform, was “randomly” chosen from the BGT audience to participate in the elaborate performance that culminated in her partner’s surprise proposal.
His performance won over everyone in Hammersmith auditorium, leaving the audience in tears and prompting KSI to send him straight through to the final.
“I got goosebumps throughout all of that,” Amanda Holden told Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly of his performance, while Simon Cowell declared that Harry was the “frontrunner” to win the competition.
However, it appeared that the magic felt in the auditorium didn’t translate on-screen, as several viewers were left unimpressed by the reaction to Harry’s performance.
Some viewers even branded the whole act as a “fix” on social media, as one wrote: “Do they think the viewers are some sort of mugs or what? Harry, gets 11 minutes for his ‘Act’.. Then gets the f***king Golden buzzer.. Complete fix, they are all in on it.. Not Magic at all, all completely rehearsed,” fumed one viewer.
“WHY DO THEY ALWAYS GET MAGICIANS WHO DO THE SAME TRICK slightly different THAT TAKES LIKE 15 MINS TO DO A 30SEC TRICK.. GOLDEN BUZZER?? The magic was S***t,” a second person tweeted.
A third wrote: “Utterly rigged and the trick itself was too grand and ridiculous, it shouldn’t even be called magic. I know exactly how he did it, it was rigged.”
“That wasn’t magic, it was obviously set up. He doesn’t deserve the golden buzzer,” added another.
Today, Harry cleared up the claims that the trick had been thought out and planned beforehand and told Andi Peters, who was standing in for Lorraine Kelly: “Saturday was the biggest night of my life.
“And now hopefully for those two, it will be one of their biggest moments, and to share in that is an honour. I was trying to hold in the tears!
“For me, with magic, you are always going to get people criticising, you are always going to get people having their opinions, which is great and with magic, it often leads to thinking it is a fix.
“It was not a fix, Jess had absolutely no idea what was going to happen and again, to just share and create that moment for them, live on TV on one of the biggest shows in the world, it meant everything.”