Jeremy Clarkson’s The Hawkstone Farmers Choir was crowned Britain’s Got Talent champion during Saturday’s live grand final.
They’d battled it out against Anastasiia & Salsa, Celestial, Fabian Fox, Liwei Yang, Matty Juniosa, Rafferty Coope, Sadeck Berrabah & LMA, Sonny Green and Ted Hill for viewers votes.
Head judge Simon Cowell, 66, branded this year’s final ‘the closest ever’ as he continued to tell each act that they were the ‘best contestant of the night’ and after the lines closed he admitted: ‘I haven’t got a bloody clue of who is going to win.’
The music mogul joined Amanda Holden, 55, Alesha Dixon, 47, and KSI, 32, on the panel but it was fans at home who chose the choir as the eventual winner, taking home £250K and the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance.
Top Gear host and Prime Video star Jeremy, 65, who funded and formed the choir, was in the audience and could be seen cheering wildly following their win.
Despite the choir storming to success, some ITV viewers were still not happy and claimed ITV were simply giving Jeremy, who they employ to present Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on the channel, ‘free publicity’ and branded the result a ‘fix’.
Jeremy Clarkson’s The Hawkstone Farmers Choir was crowned Britain’s Got Talent champion during Saturday’s live grand final.
Top Gear host and Prime Video star Jeremy, 65, who funded and formed the choir, was in the audience and could be seen cheering wildly following their win
The choir, which is now run by farmers Simon Gwilliam and Lizzy Dean, was originally set up by TV’s Jeremy Clarkson after searching for singing agricultural workers to appear in an advert for his Hawkstone beer range.
Taking to X they fumed: ‘How’s all that free Clarkson promotion going @ITV?’; ‘I bet come tomorrow this will be the lowest viewed #BGT final ever. Others saw the fix was in as soon as Jeremy Clarkson was shown in the audience’; ‘I always preferred Chris Tarrant’; ‘I AM ABSOLUTELY SICKENED THE HAWKSTONE FARMERS CHOIR WON BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT THE VOTE IS RIGGED. WHAT A FIX.’
‘It’s only right that the worse year has the worst winner’; ‘What an awful ending to this series of #BritainsGotTalent but then again no surprise it been awful all series, and they only won because of the #JeremyClarkson influence.’
Jeremy brought together the 32-member group in 2024, which also works towards raising awareness and funds for mental health charities within the agricultural community.
Following their win, which saw them perform an original track, the choir said: ‘We are the first ever choir to win Britain’s Got Talent, this is for all the farmers out there, it is not a taboo subject if you’re not ok, speak up, this is for the farmers!’
Last weekend, Simon took a swipe at Jeremy Clarkson when The Hawkstone Farmers Choir performed in the semi-finals.
Singing Bastille’s Pompeii, they blew fans away with their rendition and were awarded a place in this weekend’s coveted final thanks to the public vote.
They’d battled it out against Anastasiia & Salsa, Celestial, Fabian Fox, Liwei Yang, Matty Juniosa, Rafferty Coope, Sadeck Berrabah & LMA, Sonny Green and Ted Hill for viewers votes
Despite the choir storming to success some ITV viewers were still not happy and claimed ITV were simply giving Jeremy, who they employ, ‘free publicity’
Jeremy brought together the 32-member group in 2024, which also works towards raising awareness and funds for mental health charities within the agricultural community
Taking to X they fumed: ‘How’s all that free Clarkson promotion going @ ITV ?’; ‘I bet come tomorrow this will be the lowest viewed #BGT final ever’
But it didn’t stop Simon from passing his judgement on the choir, and he took an opportunity to make a cheeky jibe towards Jeremy in the process.
Following their semi-final performance, Simon told the choir: ‘You’re not a professional choir, however I love what you stand for.
‘It might be quite annoying to see Jeremy Clarkson’s smug face, that’s the only downside. He’s a friend of mine.’
Earlier in Saturday’s show, Simon was left terrified by Liwei Yang’s death-defying act.
The fire juggler left the panel and viewers on the edge of their seats as she was joined by her husband to swing huge fiery ropes above her head before balancing a smouldering table on her feet.
Liwei opened the show in incredible fashion after receiving KSI’s Golden Buzzer during the semi-finals.
And while KSI branded it ‘a BGT winning performance’ a terrified Simon exclaimed: ‘I thought you were on fire!’
While fans said: ‘Liwei Yang is amazing! Wouldn’t mind if she won, she deserves it’; ‘Liwei Yang, holy sh*** what an opener, the first 5 seconds won me over already’; ‘The talent required to do what Liwei Yang & her husband have done Well done both Bet she gets overlooked by a singer.’
Earlier in Saturday’s show, Simon was left terrified by Liwei Yang’s death-defying act
The fire juggler left the panel and viewers on the edge of their seats as she swung huge fiery ropes above her head before balancing a smouldering table on her feet
Elsewhere, the choir has released a record and plan to give the money to mental health charity Shout.
It has been released in the run-up to Mental Health Awareness Week in May, with the choir kindly giving all profits from their vinyl directly to Shout in support of farmers’ mental wellbeing.
The record is called The Banned One after a Hawkstone advert was banned for ‘not complying’ with broadcasting standards.
Victoria Hornby, chief executive of Shout, said: ‘The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir has given an incredible voice to the mental health challenges faced by so many in the agricultural community.
‘We are immensely grateful to be the charity partner for this project. The funds raised from this vinyl will be vital, enabling us to train more volunteers and be there for anyone in the farming community who is struggling to cope. It will save lives.’
The Banned One is now available to buy on Hawkstone website for £7.50.
Jeremy previously shared he was ‘so happy’ as he heaped praise on the ‘fantastic’ choir, which is made up of farmers from around the UK.
Speaking to his fans on social media, Jeremy explained: ‘I watched Britain’s Got Talent tonight for the first time because the Hawkstone choir were on.
‘They were just fantastic. These guys are all farmers and they work incredibly hard for really incredibly small rewards and to see them all on that stage with all that love in the room made my heart sing.’
Holding back his emotions, he admitted of watching the audition: ‘I actually welled up, and thank you Amanda Holden for pressing that Golden Buzzer.
‘It shows that I think people quite like farmers, and they were very, very good so well done, all of you. I’m a very happy man tonight because the choir is fab. That’s it.’
