WHILE the sensible, if somewhat predictable, money may be firmly on Susan Boyle walking away with the Britain’s Got Talent winner’s chalice, I have a sneaking feeling the bookies could be left with a sizeable portion of houmous on their faces when the winner is announced on Saturday night.
Within hours of Stavros Flatley - the second generation Greek Cypriot father and son - making their first appearance on the BGT auditions three short weeks ago, websites devoted to their hilarious send-up of Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance routine began to appear on the internet.
And like the best viral campaigns, the ones that work, the websites multiplied quickly. To date there are almost 8,000 websites dedicated to the act – recording millions of hits on a daily basis. The kind of viral figures any consumer PR agency would kill for.
It’s clear that while Susan Boyle has a talent for a tune, there is a definite whiff of a backlash against the Highland spinster, who has had more press exposure than Katie Price in the tabloids in recent weeks.
Stavros Flatley, on the other hand, have won the hearts of the TV watching nation. They possess baldness and obesity in equal measures but match that with genuine mass appeal.
Why?
Because they have that enviable sense of fun, that joie de vivre, that innate ability to make mischief with reputation without causing offence. In short – they are bloody funny to watch.
Susan Boyle, for all her vocal talents, wouldn’t know how to put her tongue in her cheek if her life depended on it. Irony is just a misplaced domestic hair straightener in the Boyle household.
Stavros Flatley are true variety. A timely tickle of the national funnybone to remind us that, while we are in dark days, there’s still stuff worth laughing about.
Their act is a mischievous poke in the ribs for multi-cultural Britain, a naughty bottom pinch for the culture vultures, and a firm kick in the goolies for the po-faced critics of reality TV.
If the ‘chainsaw’ and the ‘fatty wiggle’ don’t become the dance-crazes of the summer it’ll be the biggest injustice of the year.
Stavros Flatley must win. Because, let’s face it, the UK is in desperate need of a good giggle.
By Adam Moss, News Editor
