Ventriloquist Gareth Oliver made quite an impression with on the judges on Britain’s Got Talent on Saturday night.
With his fresh comedy take and voice-throwing talents, his act was a million miles away from the standard ventriloquist get-up.
Gareth gambled by putting a new twist in his act – but the gamble paid off.
And although we didn’t see much of his routine, we saw him earn enough votes to see him though to the next round of the show.
28 year-old Gareth, who “is from Halifax originally, but moved down to Kent to make my fortune,” was delighted.
He told us, “I’ve done normal ventriloquism for a long time, and I’ve also done my badly dubbed act, and an echo”.
“People tend to be more freaked out and impressed by that stuff because it’s a little bit different”.
“Ventriloquists tend to get a bad name – 150 years old, wearing a suit handed down by their grandfather and saying, ‘Gottle of gear, gottle of gear’”.
“This type of act does get pigeon-holed sometimes. But I’m trying to break all the rules!”
Gareth knew he had only a few seconds in front of the judges to make his (badly-dubbed or otherwise) voice heard.
“I was too scared to even say what my act was when I went on stage. They were like, ‘What do you do?’ and I said ‘Something different!’”
“They said, “What’s that?’ and I said, 'You’ll see!'”
“To be honest, I knew they hate putting ventriloquists through – so I was scared to say the word in case I couldn’t pronounce it under pressure. I was hyperventilating!”
He grinned, “This was a high risk routine – but luckily, it seems to have a high reward!”
Do you want to see more of Gareth? Let us know below!