Britain’s Got Talent viewers all thought the same thing as they watched Scottish dancer LeightonJay Halliday’s performance on Sunday night.
LeightonJay, 23, from Douglas, took to the audition stage in Manchester with a fusion of streetdance and contemporary performed in a puddle of water.
But viewers complained that it was too similar to that of previous winner George Sampson.
George was just 14 when he won the talent show in 2008 with his remixed Singing In The Rain routine and he went on to have a successful career as both a dancer and actor.
Sunday’s episode of BGT saw Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli blown away by LeightonJay’s performance, giving him a standing ovation.
Britain’s Got Talent viewers all thought the same thing as they watched Scottish dancer LeightonJay Halliday’s performance on Sunday night
George Sampson was just 14 when he won the talent show in 2008 with his remixed Singing In The Rain routine and he went on to have a successful career as both a dancer and actor
Ahead of the performance, the dancer revealed that his goal was to help children feel like they have the space to be their authentic selves.
Speaking to LeightonJay after his audition, Simon said: ‘You’ll be really interested to here this story. That music was sang by somebody that came on to our American show who is blind and autistic, and he wrote that song.
‘He is going to be so blown away when I call him and say “Someone has just done the most unbelievably good audition to your song”.’
But despite the judges’ praises, viewers took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice their frustrations at the similarities between LeightonJay and George’s water-based dance routines.
They said: ‘I’m getting a George Sampson vibe with this Scottish Bloke,’; ‘Didn’t we have someone dance in water years ago?’;
‘Fake George Sampson,’; ‘Similar to George Sampson’s winning routine,’;
‘George sampson wannabe? sorry hunny you’ll never be our george,’; ‘He just did what George Sampson did a while ago,’;
‘Leighton Jay: I love this style of dance. The only negative I have is that George Sampson has done this before. I hope he changes things up if he gets to the Semi finals. Love this kind of act though so I hope he does well,’;
But despite the judges’ praises, viewers took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice their frustrations at the similarities between LeightonJay and George’s water-based dance routines
LeightonJay, 23, from Douglas, took to the audition stage in Manchester with a fusion of streetdance and contemporary performed in a puddle of water
After becoming only the show’s second winner in 2008, George went on to have a flourishing career (Pictured in 2008)
They said: ‘I’m getting a George Sampson vibe with this Scottish Bloke,’; ‘Didn’t we have someone dance in water years ago?’
Later that year, he made his stage debut in the West End musical Into the Hoods, and went onto release his first single Get Up on the Dance Floor/Headz Up (Pictured winning the show in 2008)
‘George Sampson is on the phone – he wants his “Singin in the Rain” routine back!’
However not all viewers felt the same, as many were blown away by LeightonJay’s talent.
They wrote: ‘Love this boy dancing.. so different from other dancers,’; ‘You can feel his passion,’;
‘Well he can dance! Brilliantly done!’; This guy is amazing!!’;
‘Ok, this is good, its not the usual stale stuff. This lad is a very good dancer.’
After becoming only the show’s second winner in 2008, George went on to have a flourishing career.
Later that year, he made his stage debut in the West End musical Into the Hoods, and went onto release his first single Get Up on the Dance Floor/Headz Up.
However not all viewers felt the same, as many were blown away by LeightonJay’s talent
While George has continued to perform and even released his own dance DVDs, he’s delved more into acting during the latter stages of his career (Pictured in Waterloo Road in 2011)
While George has continued to perform and even released his own dance DVDs, he’s delved more into acting during the latter stages of his career.
In 2011, he joined the cast of Waterloo Road, and went onto star in Mount Pleasant, Casualty, and Emmerdale.
In 2019, he made a return to BGT to compete in its international show The Champions, but missed out on a spot in the final.
