Spelbound
| Spelbound | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Spelthorne, Ashford, Surrey |
| Genres | Acrobatic Gymnastics Act |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Website | spelbound |
| Members | Alanna Baker Adam Buckingham Nicholas Illingworth Georgia Lancaster Elise Matthews Dominic Smith Millie Spalding Poppy Spalding Jonathan Stranks Alice Upcott Alexander Uttley Coaches Andrew Griffiths Neil Griffiths Nicola Yellop |
| Past members | Katie Axten Leighanne Cowler Amy Mackenzie Adam McAssey Hollianne Wood Abigail Ralph Lauren Kemp Douglas Fordyce Edward Upcott |
Spelbound are a gymnastic troupe from the United Kingdom who rose to fame in 2010, winning the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent. The prize was £100,000 and the opportunity to appear at the 2010 Royal Variety Performance. They also performed in the Britain's Got Talent Live tour. They have since performed at numerous venues and have been featured in advertisements.
The original group was composed of seven boys and six girls with ages ranging from 12 to 24. They were Adam McAssey, Adam Buckingham, Alex Uttley, Jonathan Stranks, Douglas Fordyce, Edward Upcott, Nicholas Illingworth, Katie Axten, Leighanne Cowler, Lauren Kemp, Hollianne Wood, Abigail Ralph and Amy Mackenzie. Between them, they have won numerous medals in their sport,acrobatic gymnastics, which is an internationally recognized type of gymnastics. Additionally, some of them have taken home European and World medals. Six members (Upcott, Fordyce, Uttley, Stranks, McAssey and Buckingham) went on to the 2010 world championships subsequent to BGT with gold medals in their respective disciplines (men's pair and men's four) in the senior category, also 11-16 age group women's pair Ralph and Mackenzie won a silver medal.
They have competed for their club and for Great Britain all over Europe, including the 2008 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships, with six of them competing for GB in Taiwan at the 2009 World Games, an Olympic style event for non-Olympic events.
Spelbound auditioned for BGT, and wowed the judges and the crowd from the start. They performed to the song 'O Fortuna' a poem originally written in the 13th century as part of a collection known as the Carmina Burana, and set to music in 1935/36 by the German composer Carl Orff. They went on to the semi-finals and finals, significantly beating Twist and Pulse in the final round to win the competition in front of over 15 million TV viewers.
They received £100,000 to split amongst themselves, and went on to perform at the Royal Variety Show in December. Unfortunately they did not get to meet the Royal Party of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall as the Royal car had been attacked by protesters on the streets of London whilst on the way to the show at the London Palladium. They did attend the show but were whisked away by the Police straight after the show. Later that year, they performed on the variety show Magic Numbers, hosted by Stephen Mulhern.
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