The sixth series of British talent competition programme Britain's Got Talent was broadcast on ITV, from 24 March to 12 May 2012. The sixth series saw Simon Cowell resume a full commitment to the programme following the previous series,^[1] yet neither David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre returned to take part in the new series,^[2][3] leading to them being replaced by Alesha Dixon and David Walliams.^[4] Because of her pregnancy during filming of the auditions, Amanda Holden was required to miss a number of sessions, leading to producers asking Carmen Electra to step in as a guest judge in her place.^[5]

The sixth series of the programme saw a full commitment of incorporating a panel of four judges throughout every stage of the competition. The prize money offered by Britain's Got Talent was increased to £500,000 for this series only,^[6] the highest amount offered in the programme's history. In addition, the format of the programme saw a number of changes, including nine semi-finalists in each semi-final, the establishment of a Wildcard format similar to that used in America's Got Talent - in which the judges could appoint a single place in the final to any eliminated semi-finalist they favoured the most - and the incorporation of a mobile voting app, which functioned differently to the system used on The X Factor.^[7]

The sixth series was won by dancing dog act Ashleigh and Pudsey, with opera duo Jonathan and Charlotte finishing in second place and choir Only Boys Aloud third. Many of the semi-finalists that took part in the competition were considered some of the best in the programme's history by 2012.^[8] During its broadcast, the series averaged around 10.6 million viewers. The programme faced controversy concerning two auditions and a mishap with the new voting system, of which Ofcom had to investigate ITV's handling in regards to two of these incidents that viewers raised complaints against.

Judges and Presenter(s) for Britain's Got Talent Series 6

David Walliams

Alesha Dixon

Amanda Holden

Simon Cowell

Carmen Electra (Guest)

Ant & Dec (ITV1)

Stephen Mulhern (ITV2)

Following open auditions held the previous year,^[9][10] the Judges' auditions were held during January and February 2012, within Manchester,^[11] Blackpool, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Like the previous series, a number of acts were invited to audition between 6 and 22 January, after being found via their videos on YouTube.^[12] Twenty-five participants from this were picked by the producers and revealed by Britain's Got More Talent host Stephen Mulhern via a live YouTube stream from backstage at the London auditions, in which the YouTube community voted on their favourites between 6 and 13 February, with the winning acts later performing before the judges after the results of the vote on 18 February. Between 25 and 31 January, the sponsors of the show for this series, Virgin Media, ran addition auditions for the show via videos made on YouTube and/or Vimeo, which, while adhering to the same rules, were restricted to only Virgin Media customer, with the five winning acts later performing for the judges during the Birmingham auditions.^{[citation needed]}

Following the previous series, both David Hasselhoff and Michael McIntyre announced that they wouldn't be returning for another year of the competition.^[2][3] Their decision led to the producers seeking out their replacements, after deciding to maintain the use of four judges in the programme following Cowell's announcement in December 2011 that he would be returning to oversee auditions for the sixth series. Both Hasselhoff and McIntyre were eventually replaced by comedian David Walliams, and singer and TV presenter Alesha Dixon, the latter having previously been a judge on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.^[4] Owing to her pregnancy entering its late stages, Holden was forced to be absent from the Blackpool auditions. As a result, the production team brought in Carmen Electra as a guest judge and oversee these in her place, until Holden was cleared by doctors to return to overseeing the remainder of the auditions.^[5][13] Apart from a change in the judging panel, the producers decided to increase the prize money offered to the winner of the series to £500,000, with Cowell pledging half of the prize money being offered to the winner.^[6]

Of the participants that took part, only forty five made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals,^[14] with nine appearing in each one; this was a significant change after the last four series of the programme. In a change with the format, the live final featured ten acts that made it through the semi-finals, and one additional act dubbed "the Judges' wildcard" - if a semi-finalist was eliminated in their semi-final, they became eligible to be picked as a wildcard act for the final by the judges, with the choice made prior to the live final's broadcast. The wildcard for this series was boyband The Mend, after they lost out in the tied Judges' vote in the first semi-final. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series:^{[citation needed]}

  Winner |   Runner-up |   Finalist

  Semi-finalist | Judges' Wildcard Finalist

Participant	Age(s) 1	Genre	Act	Semi-final	Result
Analiza Ching	29	Music	Violinist	1	Eliminated
Aquabatique 2	21–28	Variety	Synchronised Swimmers	5	Finalist
Area 51	23–44	Dance	Pyrotechnic Dance Group	3	Eliminated
Ashleigh and Pudsey	17 & 6 3	Animals	Dog Act	1	Winner
Ashley Elliot	16	Music	Xylophonist	3	Eliminated
Be Minor	13–14	Singing	Girl Band	4	Eliminated
Beatrix von Bourbon	27	Dance	Burlesque Dancer	4	Eliminated
Billy George	20	Acrobatics	Cyr Wheel Acrobat	5	Eliminated
Brynolf & Ljung	35 & 36	Magic	Magic Duo	4	Eliminated
Callum Oakley	16	Comedy	Stand Up Comedian	5	Eliminated
Cascade	22–35	Acrobatics	Martial Arts Team	2	Eliminated
Chica Latina	44	Singing	Singer	4	Eliminated
Dennis Egel	41	Singing	Singer	3	Eliminated
Face Team	19–28	Acrobatics	Basketball Stunt Team	5	Eliminated
Fish on Percussion	24	Music	Percussionist	2	Eliminated
Four Corners	17–25	Dance	Dance Group	2	Eliminated
Gatis Kandis	31	Comedy	Stand Up Comedian	4	Eliminated
Graham Blackledge	42	Singing / Music	Singer & Organist	2	Eliminated
Greig Stewart	27	Music	Laser Harpist	5	Eliminated
Honey Shazad	21	Singing	Singer	3	Eliminated
Hope Murphy	16	Singing	Singer	5	Eliminated
Jonathan and Charlotte	17 & 16	Singing	Opera Duo	2	Runner-Up
Kai & Natalia	15 & 16	Dance	Ballroom Dance Duo	2	Finalist
Karizma Krew	14–38	Dance	Street Dance Group	2	Eliminated
Lauren Thalia	12	Singing / Music	Singer & Guitarist	1	Eliminated
Loveable Rogues	18–20	Singing / Music	Acoustic Trio	3	Finalist
Lucky	26	Acrobatics	Contortionist	3	Eliminated
Malaki Paul	9	Singing	Singer	4	Eliminated
Martyn Crofts	42	Singing	Raping Darlek Impersonator	5	Eliminated
Molly Rainford	11	Singing	Singer	3	Finalist
Nu Sxool	10–17	Dance	Dance Group	4	Finalist
Only Boys Aloud	14–19	Singing	Choir	1	Finalist
Paige Turley	14	Singing	Singer	2	Eliminated
Rachel Knowland	25	Singing	Singer	1	Eliminated
Ryan O'Shaughnessy	19	Singing / Music	Singer & Guitarist	5	Finalist
Sam Kelly	19	Singing / Music	Singer & Guitarist	4	Finalist
Strictly Wheels	39 & 41	Dance	Dance Duo	5	Eliminated
The Jive Aces	34–49	Music	Jazz Band	1	Eliminated
The Mend	21–22	Singing	Boy Band	1	Finalist
The Showbears	34–53	Singing	Singing Group	2	Eliminated
The Sugar Dandies	40 & 40	Dance	Ballroom Dance Duo	4	Eliminated
The Zimmers	66–88	Singing	Rap Group	3	Eliminated
Twist and Pulse Dance Company	12–20	Dance	Street Dance Group	3	Eliminated
United We Stand	17–25	Dance	Street Dance Group	1	Eliminated
Zipparah Tafari	49	Singing	Rapper	1	Eliminated

• ^1 Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this series.
• ^2 Due to the nature of Aquabatique's performance, their live round performances had to be performed outside of the studio, with the judges and studio audience watching via screens.
• ^3 The latter value pertains to the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Buzzed out | Judges' vote |   Won the public vote

  Won the judges' vote |   Lost the judges' vote |   Eliminated

• Guest performance: Tulisa ("Young")

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote				Result [15]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Zipparah Tafari	1					4th - Eliminated
The Jive Aces	2					7th - Eliminated
Lauren Thalia	3					5th - Eliminated
United We Stand	4					9th - Eliminated
Analiza Ching	5					8th - Eliminated
The Mend 4	6					3rd (Judges' vote tied - Lost on Public Vote)
Rachel Knowland	7					6th - Eliminated
Ashleigh & Pudsey	8					1st (Won Public vote)
Only Boys Aloud	9					2nd (Judges' vote tied - Won on Public vote)

• ^4 The Mend were later sent through to the final as the judges' wildcard.

• Guest performance: The Wanted ("Chasing The Sun")

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote				Result [15]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Cascade	1					8th - Eliminated
Paige Turley	2					3rd (Lost Judges' vote)
Karizma Krew	3					5th - Eliminated
The Showbears	4					7th - Eliminated
Fish on Percussion	5					9th - Eliminated
Graham Blackledge	6					6th - Eliminated
Kai and Natalia	7					2nd (Won Judges' vote)
Four Corners	8					4th - Eliminated
Jonathan and Charlotte	9					1st (Won Public vote)

• Guest performance: LMFAO ("Party Rock Anthem"/"Sexy and I Know It")^[16]

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote				Result [15]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
The Zimmers	1					6th - Eliminated
Area 51	2					8th - Eliminated
Ashley Elliot	3					5th - Eliminated
Molly Rainford	4					2nd (Judges' vote tied - Won on Public vote)
Lucky	5					7th - Eliminated
Loveable Rogues	6					1st (Won Public vote)
Honey Shazad	7					9th - Eliminated
Twist and Pulse Dance Company	8					3rd (Judges' vote tied - Lost on Public vote)
Dennis Egel	9					4th - Eliminated

• Guest performance: Labrinth ("Express Yourself")

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote				Result [15]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Chica Latina	1					9th - Eliminated
Brynolf and Ljung	2					5th - Eliminated
Malaki Paul	3					3rd (Lost Judges' vote)
Gatis Kandis	4					6th - Eliminated
The Sugar Dandies	5					7th - Eliminated
Nu Sxool	6					2nd (Won Judges' vote)
Beatrix von Bourbon	7					8th - Eliminated
Sam Kelly	8					1st (Won Public vote)
Be Minor	9					4th - Eliminated

• Guest performance: Rebecca Ferguson ("Teach Me How to Be Loved")

Semi-Finalist	Order	Buzzes and Judges' Vote				Result [15]
		Cowell	Holden	Dixon	Walliams
Face Team	1					6th - Eliminated
Greig Stewart	2					9th - Eliminated
Billy George	3					3rd (Lost Judges' vote)
Martyn Crofts	4					8th - Eliminated
Callum Oakley	5					4th - Eliminated
Hope Murphy	6					5th - Eliminated
Strictly Wheels	7					7th - Eliminated
Aquabatique	8					2nd (Won Judges' vote)
Ryan O'Shaughnessy	9					1st (Won Public vote)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Susan Boyle, Diversity & Paul Gbegbaje,^[17] and The Show Bears (featuring David Walliams)

  Winner |   Runner-up

On 23 April 2012, Ofcom launched an investigation into the programme after receiving complaints from viewers regarding the audition of burlesque performer Beatrix Von Bourbon. The complaints focused on the nature of her performance - which her stripping down until she wore only nipple tassels and a corset - and thus its suitability for a family audience and being aired before the 9pm watershed. The investigation lasted two months, and concluded on 23 July with the regulator ruling that ITV had not breached its broadcasting codes on protecting children from unsuitable material, stating that the broadcaster's measures to censor the footage of the audition had been within acceptable parameters.^[32]

Researchers for Britain's Got Talent were forced to inform production staff that the participation of Ryan O'Shaughnessy, who auditioned for the sixth series, was heavily controversial due to his failure to disclose information in his application form for the show. Per the programme's terms and conditions, O'Shaughnessy had not disclosed that his involvement would be ineligible, due to him signing a contract with Universal Music and securing a place on the first series of The Voice of Ireland that same year. Although the singer was confronted with this information and stated in his defence that he wished to express his own music, Simon Cowell had to make clear that his involvement on the programme was a direct conflict of interest.^[33][34] O'Shaughnessy was only able to continue his participation after dropping out of The Voice of Ireland and his contract with Universal Music before his semi-final appearance.^{[citation needed]}

Although voting prior to the sixth series had been mainly conducted via phone votes, production staff decided to incorporate a second method of voting for viewers, in the form of a mobile app. The concept was that viewers could use the app to purchase a set of three votes for a small fee and use for any act within the semi-finals - if a viewers used two mobile votes in one semi-final, the third could be used in another, with viewers able to buy more votes after using up their initial set. However, the implementation of this voting method for the first semi-final saw technical difficulties arise, which could not be fixed and led to the app being discontinued for the rest of the series. Ofcom was forced to investigate the incident after viewers complained about the difficulty of making votes with the app. Although the regulator reprimanded ITV for the failures in the operation of the app, it acknowledged that the concept was an original idea and that the broadcaster was not at fault for the technical issues that occurred per the actions taken to deal with the resulting problems.^[35]