Sonny Green has reached Saturday's live final of Britain's Got Talent after turning his semi-final into a family moment, bringing his two sons on stage so they could watch him perform at the Hammersmith Apollo. The Southend-on-Sea spoken word poet said that was the only way he could get them in to see him, after rules had kept children aged seven and under out of the audience.
That performance sent Green through to the ITV final and put him in line for a £250,000 prize and a slot at the Royal Variety Performance in November. Green, 31, said the show matters because winning would change his life completely, and he hopes to be crowned winner on Saturday night.
Green told Essex presenter Sonia Watson that he wrote most of his completely new final act on Southend's seafront. He said the Hammersmith Apollo was the biggest indoor event he had ever done, and that letting his boys see it mattered just as much as the result. The children rushed on to the stage and hugged him as he finished his poem, which was dedicated to them.
The moment landed with the judges too. Amanda Holden and KSI were moved to tears, and moments before the end of the semi-final Simon Cowell hit the golden buzzer, sending Green straight into Saturday's live final on ITV. Green described that night as one of the best moments of their lives, and said his sons had smashed it because the world's their oyster.
What he brings to the final is still being kept close to the chest. But the path there is clear enough: Green found a way to make the stage fit his children, then turned that performance into a place in the final where the prize, the Royal Variety slot and the biggest break of his career are all still on the line.
