She was the first act of season 17 to be awarded the golden buzzer on Britain’s Got Talent last night and who the judges believe will win the whole thing.
But Sydnie Christmas, 28, says she’s just a girl from Kent who grew up playing rugby whose only dream is to be in the West End.
Wowing judges last night with her performance of Tomorrow from the musical Annie, Ms Christmas got the golden buzzer from judge Amanda Holden.
‘The fact that people liked it, in that moment, I was like take it all in because these things might not happen again,’ she told The Mail on Sunday exclusively last week.
‘I was pinching myself. I thought this couldn’t be real.’
![Can Sydnie Christmas, 28, win Britain’s Got Talent after earning a golden buzzer with just one performance? Can Sydnie Christmas, 28, win Britain’s Got Talent after earning a golden buzzer with just one performance?](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/21/00/83898021-0-image-a-31_1713655351525.jpg)
Sydnie Christmas, who received a golden buzzer nod on Britain’s Got Talent that sends her straight through to the live shows
![Can Sydnie Christmas, 28, win Britain's Got Talent after earning a golden buzzer with just one performance? 3 Simon Cowell thinks Sydnie could be the winner of Britain's Got Talent (pictured here during her appearance on the show)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/21/00/83898023-0-image-a-32_1713655468475.jpg)
Simon Cowell thinks Sydnie could be the winner of Britain’s Got Talent (pictured here during her appearance on the show)
![Can Sydnie Christmas, 28, win Britain's Got Talent after earning a golden buzzer with just one performance? 5 Sydnie appeared in a German production of Starlight Express in 2019 as Belle the Bar Car (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/21/00/83898025-0-image-a-33_1713655498291.jpg)
Sydnie appeared in a German production of Starlight Express in 2019 as Belle the Bar Car (pictured)
![Can Sydnie Christmas, 28, win Britain's Got Talent after earning a golden buzzer with just one performance? 7 The 28-year-old grew up in Kent playing rugby but now has aspirations to perform in London's West End](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/21/00/83898525-13332257-image-a-36_1713656139650.jpg)
The 28-year-old grew up in Kent playing rugby but now has aspirations to perform in London’s West End
At a press event both Simon Cowell and Ms Holden revealed they thought Ms Christmas had what it takes to win it all.
When asked who would win the show Cowell told reporters: ‘I think it’s Sydnie, yeah.’
‘It feels like a distant memory now,’ Ms Christmas told the Mail. ‘I auditioned in January. I feel like my neck has been in my mouth ever since.
‘I have wanted to do this for ever. To be on stage, entertain, perform and sing. I went on Britain’s Got Talent in the hope that if I was to get on that I could just give it a go.
‘I’ve been doing auditions for so many years and I thought, I haven’t got a lot to lose now. I thought to myself, sod it, let’s give it a go, and then everything went so well, which I didn’t expect at all.’
Ms Christmas grew up in Kent. Her parents are Jan and Mark but her grandmother Maureen Christmas is her biggest supporter.
She featured in the audience of last night’s episode, cheering on her granddaughter with tears in her eyes.
Ms Christmas said: ‘I grew up in Kent with my family, which was lovely. I grew up playing rugby, which is totally different from singing, I had a great childhood. Very happy.’
She graduated from the D&B Academy of Performing Arts in London in 2014 and has since worked on cruise ships including the Royal Caribbean International, where she starred as Rizzo in the musical Grease.
She made her debut in London as one of the lead voices in Lazarus, featuring the music of David Bowie, at the King’s Cross Theatre and in 2019 she landed a job in Germany starring in Starlight Express, an Andrew Lloyd Webber production.
It’s there that she met her boyfriend Max Rizzo, who has also starred in the show.
For the past year Ms Christmas has worked front of house in a local gym and has been gigging at small venues.
Asked how it would feel if she were to win BGT, Ms Christmas said: ‘I am lost for words even thinking about it. It would be the biggest validation and the biggest yes, like, there you go girl, this is what you’re supposed to be doing, it would be unbelievable.
‘If by magic that was to happen to me, I would have no words.’