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The third series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 11 April to 30 May 2009. The judging panel of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan returned from the previous series; a fourth judge, Kelly Brook, was added, but removed from the series shortly after filming began.

The third series was won by street dance troupe Diversity, with singer Susan Boyle finishing in second place and saxophonist Julian Smith third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 13.3 million viewers, with the figures partly helped by the notable performances of Boyle during her time in on the show, with her audition on the third series considered one of the most famous moments in the programme's history. The programme faced criticism during the third series for airing an unsuitable performance conducted in an audition, while Boyle's well-being became a major concern for producers following the final.

Series overview

Following open auditions held the previous year, the Judges' auditions took place across January and February 2009, within Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Cardiff. Prior to the auditions, Kelly Brook was announced as a permanent fourth judge. However, after six days of filming the Manchester auditions Brook was removed from the series. She was credited as a guest judge when her appearance was broadcast.

The third series proved popular amongst viewers for the performances of Susan Boyle, whom deemed her their favourite amongst the participants despite becoming the runner-up in the competition. Her performances made her internationally famous, launching her career as a singer, with her audition performance, involving her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Misérables, being later posted to YouTube and earning around 100 million views within five days of its posting.

Of the participants that took part, only forty made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals, with eight appearing in each one, and ten of these acts making it into the live final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:

Key:   Winner |   Finalist |   Runner-Up |   Semi-finalist

• ^1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series.
• ^2 The latter value pertains to the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Semi-final summary

Buzzed out | Judges' vote |   Advanced - Public Vote

  Advanced - Judges' Vote |   Eliminated - Judges' Vote |   Eliminated

Semi-final 1 (24 May)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
Diversity	1				Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Sue Son	2				Eliminated
Darth Jackson	3				Eliminated
Natalie Okri	4				Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Julia Naidenko	5				Eliminated
Nick Hell	6				Eliminated
Faces of Disco	7				Eliminated
Susan Boyle	8				Advanced (Won Public Vote)

Semi-final 2 (25 May)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
DJ Talent	1				Eliminated
Merlin Cadogan	2				Eliminated
Hot Honeyz	3				Eliminated
Jamie Pugh	4				Eliminated
Peter Coghlan	5				Eliminated
Gareth Oliver	6				Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Shaun Smith	7				Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Flawless	8				Advanced (Won Public Vote)

Semi-final 3 (26 May)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
Harmony	1				Eliminated
Kay Oresanya	2				Eliminated
Ben & Becky	3				Eliminated
Shaheen Jafargholi	4				Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
The Barrow Boys	5				Eliminated
MD Showgroup	6				Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Floral High Notes	7				Eliminated
Stavros Flatley	8				Advanced (Won Public Vote)

Semi-final 4 (28 May)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
Sugar Free	1				Eliminated
Jackie Prescott & Tippy Toes	2				Eliminated
Callum Francis	3				Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)
Fred Bowers	4				Eliminated
Brit Chix	5				Eliminated
Julian Smith	6				Advanced (Won Public Vote)
2 Grand	7				Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Fabia Cerra	8				Eliminated

Semi-final 5 (29 May)

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote			Result
		Cowell	Holden	Morgan
The Dreambears	1				Eliminated
Good Evans	2				Eliminated
Luke Clements	3				Eliminated
Hollie Steel	4				Advanced (Won Judges' Vote)
Martin Matcham	5				Eliminated
Aidan Davis	6				Advanced (Won Public Vote)
DCD Seniors	7				Eliminated
Greg Pritchard	8				Eliminated (Lost Judges' Vote)

Final (30 May)

  Winner |   Runner-up

Ratings

Criticism & incidents

The third series saw Britain's Got Talent face criticism for the involvement of burlesque dancer Fabia Cerra. The primary concern of the complaints that were raised were over the unsuitable nature of her performance being shown on a programme aimed at a family audience. Although Ofcom investigated the matter, ITV argued in their defence that production staff had done their utmost to edit all footage to censor all inappropriate scenes of her audition, making use of editing to avoid showing anything that would breach the regulator's broadcasting codes.

However, the involvement of Susan Boyle required greater attention from the programme's staff, most particularly in the live rounds as she grew in fame with her performances. Media attention on Boyle that brought forth a number of questionable claims, forced the finalist to check into the Priory psychiatric clinic in London to recover, leaving producers the task of ensuring she had privacy from the continual media intrusion into her private life. The increasing amount of attention from the general public, over her care and well being, led to the producers asking for assistance from the Press Complaints Commission, who issued instructions to press editors to adhere firmly to the code of press conduct in regards to its rules on privacy - this included not allowing unauthorised photography to take place and respecting Boyle's entitlement to privacy while she recovered from her involvement in the programme.

References

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33. Editors Code of Practice

• 2009 British television seasons
• Britain's Got Talent