Britain's Got Talent series 7
The seventh series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 13 April to 8 June 2013; because of England's international friendly with the Republic of Ireland that year, the show took a break on 29 May to avoid clashing with live coverage of the match. Because of the work schedule of Stephen Mulhern, host of Britain's Got More Talent, filmed auditions had to be pushed back to mid-January that year, while no guest judge was brought in despite the absence of Simon Cowell for an audition session. Following the previous series, the programme's format was given a minor amendment - the cash prize offered to winners was reduced to £250,000 from this series onwards.
The seventh series was won by shadow theatre troupe Attraction, the first foreign national participant to win the competition, with comedian Jack Carroll finishing in second place and singing duo Richard & Adam third. Additionally, Attraction was the only act to finish first, second, or third through seven series of Britain’s Got Talent, and would remain the only international act to finish in the top-3 in the show’s first ten series. They would eventually be joined by third place Malawian Daliso Chaponda, and in the subsequent series, there have been an additional half dozen international acts finishing in the top-3. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 10.4 million viewers. The programme faced severe criticism from viewers over a number of auditions that were broadcast as part of the sixth series, while production staff had to investigate a breach of security after a protester managed to pelt Cowell with eggs during a live broadcast of a finalist's performance.
Series overview
Following open auditions, the Judges' auditions were held in January and February 2013, within Cardiff, London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. Although filming was planned to begin by 7 January, it was pushed back to 16 January due to Stephen Mulhern's schedule – as host for Britain's Got More Talent, he would provide feedback and present additional auditions not featured on the main programme, but filming on the original date would have clashed with his involvement for Catchphrase that month. Most of the auditions that took place were uneventful; although Cowell was forced to miss most of the auditions on the second day in Manchester due to illness, production staff opted to proceed with these without bringing in a guest judge to stand in for him.Of the participants that took part, only forty five made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals, with nine appearing in each one, and eleven of these acts making it into the live final; the wildcard act chosen by the judges was ventriloquist Steve Hewlett, after he lost out in the Judges' vote in the fifth semi-final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:
| Participant | Age | Genre | Performance Type | Semi-final | Result |
| Aaron Crow | 44 | Danger | Danger Act | 1 | |
| AJ & Chloe | 17 & 18 | Dance | Latin Dance Duo | 4 | |
| Alex Keirl | 20 | Singing | Singer | 4 | |
| Alice Fredenham | 28 | Singing | Singer | 2 | |
| Aliki | 29 | Singing | Singer | 5 | |
| Arisxandra | 11 | Singing | Singer | 1 | ' |
| Asanda | 11 | Singing | Singer | 4 | ' |
| Attraction | 19–40 | Dance | Shadow Theatre Group | 5 | ' |
| Band of Voices | 27-47 | Singing | Vocal Group | 1 | |
| Bosom Buddies | 29 & 48 | Singing | Opera Singing Duo | 1 | |
| CEO Dancers | 22–24 | Dance | Dance Trio | 5 | |
| Chasing The Dream | 19-50 | Singing | Theatre Group | 4 | |
| Club Town Freaks | 25–38 | Singing | Vocal Group | 4 | |
| Francine Lewis | 37 | Comedy | Impressionist | 4 | ' |
| Freelusion | 25–39 | Dance | Electronic Dance Group | 3 | |
| Gabz | 14 | Singing / Music | Singer & Pianist | 2 | ' |
| Gospel Singers Incognito | 17–43 | Singing | Gospel Choir | 5 | |
| J-Unity | 19 | Singing / Music | Singing Duo & Guitarist | 1 | |
| Jack & Cormac | 13 & 14 | Singing / Music | Singing Duo & Guitarist | 2 | |
| Jack Carroll | 14 | Comedy | Stand Up Comedian | 2 | ' |
| James More | 24 | Magic | Illusionist | 4 | |
| Jordan O'Keefe | 18 | Singing / Music | Singer & Guitarist | 5 | ' |
| Joseph Hall | 36 | Dance | Dancer | 3 | |
| Luminites | 18–21 | Singing / Music | Band | 3 | ' |
| Maarty Broekman | 23 | Singing / Music | Singer & Keytar Musician | 5 | |
| Martin & Marielle | 32 & 36 | Acrobatics / Dance | Acrobatic Dance Duo | 2 | |
| Martin Healey | 57 | Dance | Ballroom Dancer | 1 | |
| MC Boy | 22 | Singing | Rapper | 3 | |
| McKnasty | 27 | Music | Drummer & DJ | 2 | |
| MD Dancers | 14–22 | Dance | Dance Group | 2 | |
| Meat Diva | 31 & 27 | Singing | Cabaret Singing Duo | 2 | |
| Modupe | 19 | Singing | Singer | 2 | |
| Philip Green | 21 | Comedy | Impressionist | 1 | |
| Poppin'Ron | 21 | Dance | Bodypopper | 4 | |
| Pre-Skool | 5–8 | Dance | Dance Group | 3 | ' |
| Richard & Adam | 19 & 22 | Singing | Opera Singing Duo | 1 | Third Place |
| Robbie Kennedy | 22 | Singing / Music | Singer & Guitarist | 3 | |
| Rob's Duelling Pianos | 55 | Music | Pianist | 5 | |
| Rosie O'Sullivan | 19 | Singing | Singer | 3 | |
| Shockarellas | 12–17 | Dance | Dance Group | 4 | |
| Steve Hewlett | 37 | Comedy | Ventriloquist | 5 | ' |
| Stevie Pink | 45 | Magic | Illusionist | 3 | |
| The Glambassadors | 21–36 | Dance | Dance Group | 5 | |
| Thomas Bounce | 16 | Variety | Juggler | 3 | |
| Youth Creation | 7–14 | Dance | Dance Group | 1 |
- Ages denoted for a participant, pertain to their final performance for this series.
- Rob's Duelling Pianos became a solo act, after a member of the act left before the semi-final.
Semi-finals summary
Semi-final 1 (27 May)
- Guest performance: Ellie Goulding
Semi-final 2 (28 May)
- Guest performance: Jennifer Lopez
- Cowell did not cast his vote due to the majority support for Gabz from the other judges, but admitted that his voting intention would have been for this semi-finalist.
Semi-final 3 (30 May)
- Guest performance: Demi Lovato
- Cowell pressed Holden's buzzer for MC Boy, though it was never retracted during the comments.
Semi-final 4 (31 May)
- Guest performance: Olly Murs
Semi-final 5 (1 June)
- Guest performance: Ashleigh and Pudsey
- Steve Hewlett was later sent through to the final as the judges wildcard.
Final (8 June)
- Guest performances: Psy & Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran
| Finalist | Order | Performance Type | Percentage | Finished |
| Pre-Skool | 1 | Dance Group | 2.8% | 9th |
| Asanda | 2 | Singer | 1.2% | 11th |
| Gabz | 3 | Singer & Pianist | 3.6% | 7th |
| Steve Hewlett | 4 | Ventriloquist | 14.7% | 4th |
| Jordan O'Keefe | 5 | Singer & Guitarist | 3.7% | 6th |
| Arisxandra | 6 | Singer | 2.9% | 8th |
| Francine Lewis | 7 | Impressionist | 2.0% | 10th |
| Richard & Adam | 8 | Opera Singing Duo | 15.4% | 3rd |
| Jack Carroll | 9 | Stand Up Comedian | 20.1% | 2nd |
| Luminites | 10 | Band | 6.8% | 5th |
| Attraction | 11 | Shadow Theatre Group | 27.0% | 1st |
Ratings
| Episode | Date | Total ITV viewers | Weekly rank | Share |
| Auditions 1 | 13 April | 12.13 | 1 | 36.9 |
| Auditions 2 | 20 April | 11.86 | 1 | 43.9 |
| Auditions 3 | 27 April | 11.08 | 1 | 43.9 |
| Auditions 4 | 4 May | 11.59 | 1 | 45.0 |
| Auditions 5 | 11 May | 12.36 | 1 | 45.2 |
| Auditions 6 | 18 May | 10.88 | 1 | 38.1 |
| Auditions 7 | 26 May | 9.74 | 3 | 38.0 |
| Semi-final 1 | 27 May | 11.48 | 1 | 41.5 |
| Semi-final 1 results | 27 May | 9.27 | 10 | 31.4 |
| Semi-final 2 | 28 May | 10.20 | 6 | 36.5 |
| Semi-final 2 results | 28 May | 8.39 | 14 | 28.5 |
| Semi-final 3 | 30 May | 9.76 | 8 | 37.5 |
| Semi-final 3 results | 30 May | 8.51 | 13 | 32.3 |
| Semi-final 4 | 31 May | 9.98 | 7 | 37.5 |
| Semi-final 4 results | 31 May | 8.71 | 12 | 32.7 |
| Semi-final 5 | 1 June | 9.74 | 9 | 41.9 |
| Semi-final 5 results | 1 June | 9.04 | 11 | 32.8 |
| Live final | 8 June | 12.85 | 1 | 48.9 |
Criticism & incidents
Unsuitable, and "sexualised" auditions
The seventh series faced criticism from viewers, covering two sets of complaints regarding auditions that were conducted in the 2013 contest. The first set concerned the nature of auditions made by Scarlet Cuffs, Keri Graham and Kelly Fox, that were deemed unsuitable for a family-orientated programme and for broadcast before the 9pm watershed - both Cuffs and Graham conducted a provocative striptease as part of their auditions, while Fox used lyrics that were considered vulgar. Ofcom investigated the editing of the auditions by the striptease acts, and ruled that while Graham's had been carefully censored to an acceptable level, they found in contrast that censoring of Cuffs' audition was insufficient and that the footage breached broadcasting codes in regards to protecting children from unsuitable content, with it made clear that the act should not have been shown. Fox refuted criticism on her performance, yet a member of the National Association of Head Teachers raised questions over the "morality" of allowing the audition footage to be shown.The second set focused on the audition of two young children, Arisxandra Libantino, and Asanda, who used songs in their performances that were deemed inappropriate for their age - Libantino's performance involved singing Jennifer Hudson's "One Night Only", while Asanda's involved the singing of Rihanna's "Diamonds" alongside a provocative dance routine. The release of the footage by ITV raised questions from Vivienne Pattison, director of Mediawatch UK, over the programme's portrayal of children, deeming the auditions as effectively "sexualising children" on television.