Britain’s Got Talent finalist Innocent Masuku sailed through the ITV competition series after being described as the best opera singer in the show’s history by judge Amanda Holden.
The 33-year-old has now emerged as an early frontrunner after flooring viewers at home with his rendition of Hans Zimmer’s Now We Are Free during last night’s semi-finals.
But despite being considered a world-class talent by Simon Cowell, Innocent’s initial dreams of Britain’s Got Talent superstardom were dashed. He had originally wanted to audition five years ago- but a pesky obstacle was in the way.
He told Metro.co.uk ahead of the final: ‘The first time I could not [audition] because I was still a student so that didn’t work out – I think that was 2019. Then the following year the dates did not line up but finally last year things worked out.’
Innocent decided to take the plunge after watching another opera singer – whose name he can’t recall – audition for the show with an unexpected outcome.
He explained: ‘They made a really good impression and I connected to that performance. And I felt like, “Wow” because usually opera is not received that way on the Britain’s Got Talent stage. It was a really warm reception and the audience was cheering them on.’
Innocent has received a similar outpouring of adulation from the audience – and could now be the very first South African winner of the long-running talent contest.
He said: ‘I feel very proud to be able to raise the South African flag and to get the backing of South Africans.
‘They have been so supportive – they’ve been sending so many DMS, sharing my links and my Facebook is filled with reposts of my audition videos.
‘I’m really proud to be South African to be representing South Africa on such a big stage.’
Innocent said he discovered his voice by chance aged 16- when one of the soloists in his school choir was absent and he was asked to fill in. He said as soon as he opened his mouth, everyone went quiet.
He recalled: ‘I thought they were gonna say, “That’s not good.” But they just clapped and they were cheering me on and I realised, “Okay, actually I can sing.”
‘From then on, I never really stopped singing because I knew that I had a good voice and I could sing solo and not just sing along with everybody else.’
The singing powerhouse went on to pursue his talent at the Cape Town opera, where he made his first public performance in a production of Porgy and Bess set in Argentina, before deciding to apply for Britain’s Got Talent.
Innocent has had a lot on his plate as the BGT auditions coincided with his wedding to his fiancée, a nurse. Fortunately, though, his now wife took charge of the big day.
Asked if he had too much to juggle, Innocent replied: ‘She did most of the things and just kept me [in the loop] in terms of, “We are going to this venue – do you like it?” It was easy in that sense because she was able to deal with wedding preparations mostly and then I focussed on preparing for the audition.’
The final is just days away, but Innocent has already got a taste of the life to come – revealing it was recently a ‘mission’ to return to his hotel as dozens of fans wanted selfies.
However, he is taking everything in his stride. ‘For now, I’m enjoying it,’ he said. ‘It’s about finding the balance and I think I’ve done that pretty well with the support of my wife.’
Britain’s Got Talent live semi-finals will air each day until Friday at 8pm, with Sunday’s final at 7.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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