Let’s be honest: the early seasons of BGT were a glorious, chaotic mess. You had your opera singers, your dogs in tiny sweaters, and your magicians who made doves disappear. But somewhere around 2013, the show stopped being just about talent and started being about who we wanted at the dinner table. The winner wasn’t just a person; it was a vibe.
Remember the year Attraction took the crown? That was 2013. A shadow dance troupe—Hungarian, emotional, wordless—won by telling a story of immigration and loss. The audience didn’t applaud because they were the best dancers. They applauded because they saw their own awkward Uncle Zoltán in that story. That’s when diversity started whispering “I’m here.”
Then came the year of the choir that didn’t need to be perfect.
Fast forward to 2019. Colin Thackery, a 89-year-old Chelsea Pensioner in a bright red coat, won singing “Wind Beneath My Wings.” He was the most non-diverse person on paper—old, white, military. But here’s the twist: the audience didn’t cheer because he was a stereotype. They cheered because he was himself in a world that tells old people to sit down and be quiet. That’s diversity of age, of experience, of just refusing to give up your mic.
And then, in 2026, a pandemic hit. The show went virtual. Every contestant filmed on a crappy phone in their kitchen. Suddenly, the winner wasn’t a glitzy act. It was Jon Courtenay, a bloke who sang about dogs, his mum, and eating too many biscuits. He won because he was relatable. He was diversity in the form of “we’re all messy and hungry.”
