AT 12, HE WAS TOLD TO FIND A SINGING TEACHER. THREE YEARS LATER, THE SAME JUDGE PRESSED THE GOLDEN BUZZER. Kyle Tomlinson’s first experience on Britain’s Got Talent did not end with applause, golden confetti or a place in the next round.
He was only 12 years old when he first auditioned for the show in 2014. His performance was not broadcast on television, but Kyle later revealed that the judges had rejected him. David Walliams advised the young singer to go away, work with a singing teacher and return when he was ready.
At that age, criticism can feel like the end of a dream. Kyle admitted that David’s words upset him. But after thinking about them, he decided that the judge had been right. Instead of abandoning music, Kyle followed the advice. He began taking professional singing lessons and spent the next three years developing his voice.
In 2017, the 15-year-old from Sheffield returned to the BGT stage. The judges did not initially remember him, but Kyle certainly remembered David. He explained what had happened during his first audition and revealed that he had come back to prove how much he had changed. Then he began singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
The nervous teenager who had walked onto the stage disappeared, replaced by a confident vocalist with a powerful voice. By the end of the performance, all four judges were standing, Kyle was fighting back tears, and David knew exactly what he had to do. He pressed the Golden Buzzer.
Gold confetti filled the theatre as David joined Kyle onstage and congratulated him. It was not simply an apology for the earlier rejection. It was recognition of three years of work, patience and determination. Kyle continued to the live semifinal, where he performed Adele’s “When We Were Young.” He received 28.1% of the public vote in his semifinal and advanced to the Grand Final. There, he sang Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” and ultimately finished sixth in the competition.
Kyle did not win BGT, but his story remains one of the show’s clearest examples of how criticism can become motivation.
The first “no” did not mean that Kyle lacked talent. It meant that his talent still needed time, training and the courage to try again.
Sometimes proving someone wrong begins with admitting that they may have had a point.
Would you have pressed the Golden Buzzer for Kyle?