Fairy tales do happen, says BGT audience member

An audience member who was put straight through to the live semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent after begging judges to "give me a chance" has described the whole experience as "the craziest week of my life".

Singer Max Fox pleaded with Simon Cowell during auditions in Blackpool, saying he had been trying to secure a spot on the ITV show for 19 years.

Fox, from Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire, seized his opportunity and produced a stunning performance of Frank Sinatra's My Way. Judge Amanda Holden pressed the golden buzzer to give him a place in the semi-finals.

The 35-year-old said he had received "quite a lot of stick online" from people suspecting the whole thing had been "staged".

But he insisted: "Everything happened - it was the way it was. There was nothing untoward about it.

"Sometimes fairy tales do happen and it does seem unbelievable, but it's true."

He said the whole experience has been "absolutely crazy".

"I literally walked in as an audience member - I had no thought that I was going to be getting up on the stage until I sat in my seat, saw how close I was to Simon, and then just decided to take that chance," he said.

After hearing Fox shout out, Simon Cowell turned to face the audience and asked if it was "a wind-up".

After being reassured by the production team that it was not, the Lancashire singer was taken backstage to get ready to perform.

He said: "Since I was a kid it's been my ultimate dream to do something like this, but you've got 100,000 people trying to do the same thing.

"I've previously got so far and then been knocked back at the last hurdle, so it was a moment of madness and it paid off.

"I've worked as a singer, but for every performer this is the ultimate dream, it's a platform that people vie for their whole life.

"To walk out with a golden buzzer, things like this don't happen in normal life."

Fox's impromptu audition was included in an instalment of Britain's Got Talent that was broadcast on 19 April.

Since the show was recorded, Fox said he had been working with a vocal coach in preparation for the semi-finals.

"I'm so looking forward to showing the public what else I can do," he said.

"From being unknown to people stopping you in the streets has just been wild."

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