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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan & Abbie Meehan

Britain's Got Talent in 'fix' row over controversial magician Keiichi Iwasaki

In Keiichi Iwasaki's audition, the magician floored both the audience and judges with his incredible performance, but didn't get the vote to head on to the Britain's Got Talent final on Wednesday night.

However, the performer who admitted he was nervous to appear on "the biggest stage in the world", is apparently no stranger to the limelight of Britain's Got Talent, the Mirror reports.

After Keiichi's spell-binding audition that got him the Golden Buzzer from hosts Ant and Dec, it has been revealed that he was well versed in the Got Talent's shows.

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Keiichi had previously auditioned for the Italian version of BGT in 2016, and tried his hand at the Bulgarian version as well, just last year.

The magician even made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Spanish version of BGT in 2019, and auditioned for the German edition of the Got Talent show in 2021.

Once fans were made aware of this detail, they took to social media to share their disdain for the topic, with one Twitter user writing: "So a former Italy, Bulgaria, and Spain’s got talent act gets the golden buzzer then... hardly an unknown."

Another said: "This is why I think #bgt should only allow acts from Britain to apply. This @antanddec #goldenbuzzer Japanese magician from last night’s show has already performed the same act on Germany, Italy, Spain & Bulgaria’s Got Talent shows. What a con!"

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And a third wrote: "So a former Italy, Bulgaria, and Spain’s got talent act gets the golden buzzer then…….he’ll be on America’s Got Talent next year. Hardly an unknown….. You can’t tell me that Simon Cowell’s not aware of him."

Yet, a spokesperson for Britain's Got Talent cracked down on the speculation straight away, with a statement saying: "As with many other entertainers who are hoping for success in the industry, Keiichi, a street performer, had previously auditioned on television shows in the past.

"There are no rules that state this should prevent him from applying. All acts audition on the same basis and normal programme rules apply.

"These claims unnecessarily encourage negative trolling against our contestants and “fix” claims are completely untrue.

"We have always been very open about who can apply for BGT. We look forward to our viewers tuning in to show their support to Keiichi."

The fourth live semi final of Britain's Got Talent will air on Thursday, June 2 at 8pm on ITV.

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