Britain’s Got Talent has been hit by a huge backlash from viewers after broadcasting a performance from an 11-year-old schoolgirl singing a song about a one night stand, and a highly sexualised lapdancing performance – all before the 9pm watershed.
The first episode of this year’s ITV talent contest, which was shown at 7pm on Saturday night and watched by more than 13 million people, was branded ‘totally unsuitable’ by outraged parents.
Raunchy: David Walliams and 43-year-old Keri Graham gave Simon Cowell a lap dance in the family entertainment show
It has also emerged that contestant Keri Graham, whose provocative performance saw her stripping down to her underwear, writhing semi-naked on a chair and gyrating on Simon Cowell, is a professional stripper who has posted a series of raunchy pictures of herself on a ‘stripagram’ agency website.
Appearing on stage shortly after 7.30pm, the 43-year-old, who was joined at the audition by her husband and teenage son Callum, told the show’s judges and audience members that she teaches ‘chair fitness classes’, before launching into the routine and dancing to explicit song Freak Me, by Another Level.
A second act featured 11-year-old Arixsander Libantino performing a rendition of Jennifer Hudson song One Night Only, which features the lyrics: ‘You’ve got one night only, that’s all you have to spare, let’s not pretend to care, come on, big baby, come on, we only have ‘til dawn.’
Provocative: Keri Graham stripped down to her underwear and danced to explicit song Freak Me, by Another Level
Miss Libantino’s parents Aristotle and Elma, who are from the Philippines, and were watching off-stage, received a standing ovation from Simon Cowell and his fellow judges, but viewers immediately took to the internet to express their disgust that she was allowed to sing a song which featured such adult lyrics, with one member of the public condemning the show by branding it ‘Britain’s Got Sleaze’.
Helen Marianne from Eastbourne, wrote online: ‘The song this young girl sang was totally unsuitable for her age – She’s 11 for Heaven’s sake. However good her voice is, something much more appropriate should have been chosen for her. It gave me the creeps if I’m honest.’
Another wrote: ‘Marvellous isn’t it? Viewing images of children online is deemed wrong and rightly so, yet TV put up an 11-year-old girl who then sings a very adult-themed song. All very wrong. Her parents should not have condoned this.’
Controversial: Arixsandra Libantino, 11, sang a Jennifer Hudson song about a one-night stand
A further comment said: ‘The child was singing an adult song and should NOT have been allowed to sing it as it make her look like a Lolita.’
Viewers were equally appalled by Mrs Graham’s lapdance routine, with richbrownowl writing: ‘This show is pre-watershed, so the appropriateness of a half-naked woman doing a sexually provocative act needs to be called into question. This is a family entertainment show after all. No, I am not a prude.’
Family viewing?: Lyrics in the schoolgirl’s song included ‘let’s pretend not to care, come on big baby, come on, we only have til dawn’
Another post read: ‘Nice Saturday night family viewing as your child asks, “Mummy, why has that lady got hardly any clothes on, and what is she doing with those men?” So even a simple talent show has to have some sleaze.’
Jojo Moyes added on Twitter: ‘I hate that lapdancer moves are somehow considered family entertainment.’ Former X Factor winner Steve Brookstein also condemned the show, saying: ‘Family entertainment and BGT have a lap dancer. Stay classy ITV.’
Both acts were put through to the next round of the talent contest, with contestants competing for the £500,000 prize money and a place in the Royal Variety Show, which will be performed in front of the Queen.
The scenes risk angering media regulator Ofcom, who set out stringent guidelines in 2011 which banned lewd dance routines from pre-watershed programmes.
The move came after the 2010 X Factor final attracted around 4,500 complaints over the racy dance routines it featured from semi-naked pop stars including Rihanna and Christina Aguilera.
Ofcom even met with broadcasters, including ITV, to issue new guidance on ‘protecting’ under-18s and ‘observing’ the 9pm watershed and detailing rules on what can be aired before the 9pm watershed, warning broadcasters to take particular care with ‘family viewing’.
At the time, Ofcom said: ‘In entertainment and talent show genres, particular areas of concern include the sexualised clothing and dance routines of performers and guest artists.
Ofcom also stressed that broadcasters need to make sure that lyrics, sexual images, violent images, raunchy clothing and provocative dancing do not feature heavily when children are likely to be watching.
Receptive: Simon seemed to enjoy Arisxandra’s performance despite the inappropriate lyrics
‘Broadcasters should take care to avoid any explicit images of sexual behaviour or images that convey a sexualised theme. Ofcom would not expect to see any images that failed to adequately cover their bodies, in particular breasts, buttocks or genital area.’
Mrs Graham, whose stage name is Keri Gold, has admitted stripping in the past to make money, but claimed she had done it when she was younger because she was struggling to make money.
‘I have done stripping in my younger years, mainly because at the time I was a single girl on my own trying to earn a living.’
However, the Daily Mail can reveal that she was signed up to the Colchester-based LimeLite Agency near to her home in Essex, and that she only quit the company two weeks ago following her performance on Britain’s Got Talent.
A spokesman for the agency said: ‘Keri was on our books, but left two weeks ago. It was her on Britain’s Got Talent. I think her leaving was because she was going to be on the show.’
Strong start: Despite any controversy, Britain’s Got Talent succeeded in beating rival The Voice on BBC1 in the ratings
Vivienne Pattison, director of Mediawatch UK, which campaigns for decency on television, said: ‘Having an 11-year-old girl sing an adult song like this is simply sexualising children. It’s incredibly damaging because this show is marketed at primary school children.
‘ITV appear to have completely ignored the Ofcom guidelines – I don’t even know why they put the guidelines out. This kind of thing is not what families want to see.
‘We are sleepwalking into a situation where pornography is the norm.’
Ofcom said yesterday (Sun) that it was too early to tell if they had received any complaints from the public, but added: ‘Any complaints we receive will be assessed against the broadcasting code.’
A spokesman for ITV said last night: ‘In its seventh series, Britain’s Got Talent celebrates variety and showcases a wide range of different acts. Mindful of our family audience, the performance was carefully edited to ensure it was suitably inexplicit.’
Britain’s Got Talent scored a peak audience of 11.42m – 13.03m including those who watched on ITV catch-up service ITV+1, making it the most watched programme of the year.
It thrashed rival BBC talent contest The Voice in the ratings, which managed a peak of 7.73m. Both shows went head-to-head on Saturday night.
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