Ronan Parke, Paul Gbegbaje through to 'BGT' final

[dutchman]

Ronan Parke and Paul Gbegbaje have become the first two acts to win a place in the Britain's Got Talent final.



The 12-year-old singer Parke advanced to the last stage of the ITV show after topping tonight's public vote, while Gbegbaje's piano act and extreme cyclist Joe Oakley were revealed as having finished in the top three.

Hosts Ant & Dec then turned to judges David Hasselhoff, Michael McIntyre, Amanda Holden and the returning Simon Cowell to determine who would be granted the second spot.

Hasselhoff was first to make the "very, very difficult" decision, stating: "I loved your playing Paul, but Joe - your act is so amazing and so exciting... I gotta go with Joe."

McIntyre echoed his colleague's sentiment by saying: "I truly enjoyed you both, they both deserve to be there," before also giving his vote to Oakley.

Holden, however, did not agree and instead chose to save the "more entertaining" Gbegbaje, adding that the 19-year-old "touched" her.

The deciding vote was then left to Cowell, who noted that Oakley had pulled out a better performance tonight since Gbegbaje was "slightly hampered" by his song choices.

He finally sent the vote to deadlock by backing the musician and saying: "I see a lot of potential in you."

With the judges split, the vote was deferred back to the public and it was revealed that Gbegbaje had collected the most viewer calls.

Following his semi-final success, Gbegbaje described the support he had received from judges and the audience as "overwhelming".

"I'm glad to be here and have this chance to prove [the public] right," he gushed.

Donelda Guy, 'Entertainanator' Stuart Arnold, dance group Girls Roc, Ted & Grace and the Bruce Sistaz were earlier eliminated from the competition.

The second Britain's Got Talent semi-final will air tomorrow on ITV1 at 7.30pm, while the final takes place on Saturday at 7pm.