BGT have published the public vote percentages from the 2011 series here. Jai McDowall won with 29.1% of the vote, ahead of Ronan Parke on 26.7% and New Bounce on just 8.9%.
In the end it was a confusing night for punters – and, evidently, for producers. It was difficult to avoid the impression that this was not the result they were expecting or hoping for. Simon Cowell’s immediate reaction – calling it a “shock result” and reminding us that Jai was “not one of the favourites”, before recovering enough composure to call him a “worthy winner” – hardly smacked of the well-planned launch of a glittering post-show career.
Then we cut to Amanda Holden struggling to hide her disappointment at the defeat of Ronan Parke. Rarely can a winner of a reality show have met with such a lukewarm immediate response.
So what did they want to happen? When the running order was announced, New Bounce in the pimp slot and Ronan Parke in 6th seemed to indicate the boyband were the preferred winners.
But the performances told a different story. New Bounce just weren’t that good – and while they got a JLS comparison from Cowell, the pimp slot pimping was decidedly half-hearted.
It began then to seem more likely that producers had been confident Ronan Parke could win even from a relatively early slot in the running order. An ill-advised fire-twirling addition to his usual schtick ensured that Razy Gogonea wasn’t going to challenge for the win from 9th, while Jean Martin managed to finish last of all from 7th.
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that producers simply dropped a clanger in allowing Jai McDowall to perform as late as 8th. How did you read it?
Having made a very small profit via the lovely people at Betfair, I’m delighted with the finishing order. But I am far from happy with Jai’s treatment tonight. I can only liken it to Pop Idol and Will’s win over Gareth “the chosen one”
I was surprised at Ronan’s very early slot. It was as if they were doing everything that is supposed to be detrimental to success: the early position, having him just stand and sing. Then they could claim that it was just hype about order of appearance etc when Ronan won.
When that idea didn’t work, they even tried to say how close it was with only 2.4% between them. Poor Jean at the bottom only got 2% of the total vote and I’m sure that was quite a considerable number of votes.
It was definitely not the winner they expected or even wanted. But I am delighted
I would agree with that analysis, Andrew. Putting Jai as late as 8th was the mistake. It seems to me like they had him as 4th choice to win (after Ronan, New Bounce and Razy in that order), but putting him that late must have meant that he would do.
Having been at the studio last night I can confirm first hand that they really wanted Ronan to win. I was sat at the bottom of the stalls near the judges and noticed a sticker on the floor saying ‘Ronan 5’ – meaning that a spot for camera 5 had carefully been selected for the best possible view of his performance. No other such stickers existed as far as I could tell. Also, after the show Amanda’s husband grabbed Simon to say “Ronan should’ve won” to which he replied “I know”.
I thought they had done enough for him to win as well. Shoved him on after the forgettable Paul, with a commercial break and before the wacky yet dull Jean.
Was shocked that Jean came last. People went wild for her in the studio, shouting for her etc! I was also surprised that Razy didn’t make the top 3 (especially 9th). In fact, I lost all my bets but I won a lot on Eurovision and had a fantastic time so I didn’t mind too much.
How did everyone else do?
i am really happy for jai. i don’t like the way he was sort of ignored and it was all ronan ronan ronan. jai was the winner and thats that. if people are unhappy with the result then they should have picked up the phone and voted for him. i voted for jai as i feel he deserved it. im not surprised jean Martyn finished in 10th tbh. Les Gibson in 9th i was a little surprised at. but he did do bad in the final. 8th was James hobley which im not surprised at. 7th Steven hall which i was surprised at but i think he is brilliant so he should have been higher in my eyes. 6th Paul gbegbaje i was also surprised at but he is very talented.5th was Michael collings who i think is brilliant and i would have like to see him in the top 3 .4th was razy gogonea who i think should have been in the top 3. he is a great dancer and i don’t see why they bought Michael moral back as razy was always goner win the public vote on that battle.. 3rd was new bounce which im not surprised at but tbh i don’t think they should have been anywhere near winning. they were dreadful on there audition and i agree with Michael McIntyre when he said no.i think there were better singers there. like Bobbie buttons ha ha. 2nd was ronan Parke which im surprised at as he has been the out and out favorite since he step on the stage at his audition. 1st jai McDowell which as i said i am over the moon with. he is brilliant and i will buy his album when he brings one out.
over all it was a good final 🙂 thanks
Feeling smug as:
1) I placed my first and only bet on BGT during the final for New Bounce making the top 3
2) As I posted earlier today, the producers should have spotted the danger and buried Jai McDowall under a passing TARDIS, instead of Michael Collings who could never get in the top 3.
3) Feels like we got what the viewers wanted and not what the producers wanted. Highly likely to have a Leon Jackson trajectory sadly but he seems very genuine.
This final was very hard to read. As far as I can see there are two possible explanations –
one is that as described above they were confident that Ronan would win even from the no. 6 slot and after rubbishing Razy’s act and giving New Bounce a dull number (surely something by the Jacksons or Hanson would have gone down a storm) and they simply underestimated Jai’s Scottish, humble guy, rags to riches, ‘care-worker type’ block vote (the slick Ronan was none of these)
the second is that the producers were quite happy for Ronan to come second. He received (and will receive in the future) far more publicity than Jai. Its proved in the past that coming second in these events is absolutely no bar to success – and its already a headline maker in ‘shock result in BGT’. Its pretty certain that Ronan will have more commercial success than Jai and thats what really counts!
completely agree with both points you make. plus, im the end I actually think they’re not that sad about the result. little ronan can be signed, loads of cash can be made on his back and the ‘non fixing’ of the show is proven, after all not simon’s chosen one won.
I don’t know why people are going on about Jai being an outside, he was the second favourite on almost every betting site.
I have no idea who these people are, what they look like or what they do. I have never watched a second of BGT this series. Despite that I still won £420 just from reading your semi-final preview! Similar thing happened with Eurovision. I came back from a night out to see I’d won hundreds. Thank you and roll on X-Factor…..
Congratulations tpfkar and halzelwoods, and commiserations Tim. In defence of Collings, from such a terrible draw he did pretty well to get within 0.7% of Razy and 1.2% of New Bounce – he would surely have made the top three comfortably if the tardis had picked him up and deposited him anywhere in the second half of the show.
Justin, annie – maybe so, but what inclines me against the possibility that they were anticipating an upset is the rather graceless reaction to it, which, as others have commented above, left a sour taste. If the point of Ronan’s earlyish slot was to undercut any impression that they were desperate for him to win, why then undo that good work by reacting to Jai’s win like he’d just shot Bambi?
TeaMonkey – 🙂
Agree with Mark’s comments about Jai’s pricing with all the bookies. He was clearly second favourite to Ronan, with New Bounce as third favourite and Razy as fourth favourite. When you check the published voting percentages, they mirror the bookies’ pricing strategy, with the obvious exception of Ronan being runner up, not winner. Not such a shock result as some would make out then!
Hi Eloise, Mark, this is true although I believe he only became clear second fav after Razy and New Bounce had performed – he was behind them in most lists for most of the week. But yes, he was never lower than fourth fav so hardly a rank outsider.
Perhaps what Simon meant is he wasn’t one of their favourites? 😉
Hi Andrew/Daniel – really enjoying your coverage together with other people’s comments – whats the next sofabet event to be covered?
Thanks, Justin
Good question, Justin! We’re currently debating if there’s anything worth covering before X Factor. But certainly X Factor is the next big one, and we are very much hoping that you and our other regular commenters will be back to help us figure it out.
It was clear they expected Ronan to win convincingly, with New Bounce as Plan B. Jai was not on their radar (or mine for that matter). it’s clear though and for future reference that the producer’s were not in complete command of the judges comments allowing them to pimp jai’s performance and to even call upon scotland’s diaspora vote. we all know that louis stops talking about ireland when it’s time for the irish entry to depart x-factor – why were similar instructions not issued this time? also something i didn’t learn till after the result(because i don’t read newspapers) was that jai had been the subject of extensive press attention on the day of the contest, including a large feature article in at least one paper. but even with all that i can’t completly fathom why he won? his song was dull, his delivery average, his interaction with the camera and audience virtually non-existent, his running order good but not great. in hindsight bgt in comparison to other shows is perhaps just too unpredictable?
Rob, with hindsight I suppose one thing we should probably account for is that the BGT Saturday show must be put together in a hurry by people who’ve had an exhausting week. Still, though, I’m surprised at how much they seem to have missed the danger from Jai, if that’s indeed what happened – they certainly should be on top of the media coverage. Why not simply have swapped him and Ronan in 6th and 8th? That would surely have done the trick and still not looked blatantly pro-Ronan.
I watched Jai’s comments back to remind me who did the Scottish shoutout – it was Michael McIntyre with a William Wallace riff. It’s not quite Louis’s “I want everyone in [name region] to pick up the phone and vote for…”, but indeed may still have stirred some patriotic loins.
With hindsight Cowell’s comments are fascinating. Watch them back – he praises the song choice, he praises the staging. He seems to be wanting to be just positive enough to avoid stirring a sympathy vote, while not positive enough to stir an enthusiasm vote.
With a couple of days to reflect on the %sges, easy to see how they thought Ronan would walk it.
The only person to get over 60% (and 50%) (and only Jai also got over 40%) in his semi.
All the media attention.
All week to prepare for the final.
All the judges comments (& Louis) he could hope for.
But look at Jai’s semi. In second place Edward Reid, a pimped Scottish singer. With retrospect the split vote across the two made it look that Jai was less popular than he was. How different would it have been if Edward Reid had opened the final?
Even now I’m still surprised by the graceless judges’ comments after Jai’s victory was announced. Even if they’d messed up and let him won, it really seems that the judges didn’t know beforehand and weren’t ready for him to win – hence the awkward comments. I’d have expected Simon at least to know what was coming.
I think the producers put Ronan on as early as they felt they could where he’d still win. I don’t think they wanted to risk putting him on in the pimp slot as they were already getting accused of trying to fix Ronan win.
They gave New Bounce a poor song (no more modern one like the successful semi?) and Razy mucked up his dancing by bringing in the fire (and having used all his moves in the audition/semi).
I just think they overlooked Jai’s chances of winning. I think they were more worried about Michael Collings so put him on early.
I was surprised so many strong acts were left till late though. I thought they’d have a few weak acts to finish so they could put Ronan mid way and not have a serious contender after him.