The Irish priest who wowed Simon Cowell and the live audience on Britain’s Got Talent has made it through to the semi-final of the competition.
Fr Ray Kelly sang the R.E.M. classic ‘Everybody Hurts’ at the audition in a performance that left everybody in the room in a momentarily stunned silence.
Cowell broke the tension by getting to his feet and leading the audience in a standing ovation. He then told Fr Kelly that it was one of his ‘favourite ever auditions’.
As the auditions came to an end Fr Kelly was several acts who had been selected to be considered for the live semi-finals.
In the meantime, he and the others to make it through have had to wait nervously to discover whether or not they would be one of the 35 to be selected by the judges to perform in the semi-finals.
He got his answer over the weekend as viewers watched the judges reveal which acts were set to make it through.
Before the semi-finalists were announced, Fr Kelly said: “I have visions of going home to my parish and telling them I got through to Britain’s Got Talent.
“That would blow their mind, you know.”
As he stood on the stage with three other hopefuls, judge Amanda Holden said: “Only on Britain’s Got Talent could this line-up be possible.”
She they told Fr Kelly ‘you better thank Him upstairs’ before revealing that he was in the semi-final.
Take a look at the video below. (Fr Kelly appears at around two minutes and 50 seconds.)
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling