They’re calling it a big fix over on our forum, but dancer George Sampson has won Britain’s Got Talent 2008. The final line-up was:

1. George Sampson
2. Signature
3. Andrew Johnston

George won after performing a pumped-up version of Singing In The Rain which finished with him getting drenched on stage. It was all very visually stunning, but you can’t help wondering what set George apart from all the other dance acts who participated.

Personally, I missed a lot of the semi-finals this week, so tonight was my first view of a lot of the acts, including George. For me, Andrew Johnston was impressive, but even he was upstaged by young Faryl Smith. Recently renamed string quartet Escala were also breathtakingly good and deserved to be in the final.

The accusation many people are levelling at the show is that it’s a complete fix. The producers ‘chosen few’ are given better coaching and more screen time dedicated to whatever sob story is cooked up to drum up public interest. Andrew Johnston looked uncomfortable at the video link showing him talking about being bullied and inexplicably walking down the street in pouring rain with no coat on. And the sad music being piled on the whole time.

Likewise George needed to win because it would save his life. Now, maybe I’m out of the loop, but what life-threatening disease requires £100,000 and a night onstage dancing for Prince Charles to cure it?

Ultimately, a lot of people tonight are feeling ripped off by Simon Cowell’s claim that Britain may have talent, but it can’t win competitions unless it has a big story to clinch the hearts of a disgustingly gullible public.

The lesson? Let the talent speak for itself. It’s not a fair contest otherwise.