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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jessica Gibb & Amy Denman

Inside Sam Smith's 'nightmare' BRITs bust-up as £500k set was hauled on and off stage

Sam Smith stole the show at the BRIT Awards from the minute they arrived with their incredible spandex outfit - which has since sparked thousands of viral memes.

But, it wasn't just the 30-year-old's quirky looks that hit the headlines over the weekend as it was reported the Stay With Me singer was left furious after their BRIT performance was almost cancelled.

Singer Sam, who is non-binary and uses gender neutral pronouns, is said to have rowed with producers backstage after the set for their performance malfunctioned.

Viewers at home were left confused as they expected to see the singer perform Unholy on stage – but a video montage of Adele appeared on screens as event staff scrambled to fix the stage.

One confused fan wrote: "Wait… what? Where’s the #BRITs gone?? Thought @samsmith was easily best performance of the night so far… then it stops and we get Adele from last year?"

" #BRITs cutting @samsmith off with a technical difficulty," another pointed out.

Sam Smith stormed the stage with a steamy performance of Unholy – which almost didn't happen (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

While a third simply asked: "What happened?," as a fan shared a video of Adele's performance from I Drink Wine from 2022 repeated on the telly.

A BRITS attendee has now spilled on what went on inside the O2 Arena, which sparked Sam's fury and led to a swift exit from the performer.

The source told us: "The staging for Sam Smith's performance was rolled out and the complicated rigging of cars and screens set up.

"Everyone was getting excited for Sam's performance with Kim Petras but then there was a murmur of confusion in the crowd when the whole rigging was hauled backstage.

"Fans in the arena were worried the performance had been pulled altogether."

Fans were worried the performance wouldn't go ahead (Getty Images)
The BRITS played Adele's 2022 performance for viewers at home as the staff rushed to fix the stage (Getty Images)

The insider revealed that Adele's performance from last year was only shown to those at home and wasn't aired on the screens inside the arena in London adding to the chaos in the arena.

BRITS bosses were then forced into a very dramatic turnaround ushering rapper Stormzy on stage in place of Sam.

"The stage had to be quickly set up for Stormzy instead and after he performed, the cars were brought back onto stage and prepared for Sam and Kim's performance of Unholy.

"After the delay the performance seemed very short and Sam didn't stick around afterwards, it looked like they couldn't wait to get off the stage."

Meanwhile, another source backstage tells us there was a delay to a performance starting so they needed to fill some time.

It comes after it was reported that Sam was 'furious' over the 'nightmare' gaffe.

The delayed performance seemed short, but fans at home loved it (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

A source told The Sun : "Sam’s performance might have appeared seamless but behind-the-scenes it was a nightmare.

"The whole set was built and ready to go but then a ­malfunction meant it had to be pulled off.

"Stormzy was moved forward and Sam was told there was a possibility their performance might be pulled altogether.

"Sam was understandably furious and it was pretty tense backstage."

But, when the artist managed to perform the track, fans were in awe a one wrote: " @samsmith and @kimpetras killed this! “Unholy” at the @BRITs ".

Another penned: "sam smith has been slaying lately when is about performing!"

And a third remarked: "Such an amazing performance of Unholy from Sam Smith and Kim Petras!"

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