‘Britain’s Got Talent’ final: Simon Cowell talks Jules O’Dwyer – Matisse controversy

Who knew that a trained dog would cause so much controversy after a “Britain’s Got Talent” final? After it was revealed that it was a different dog rather than Jules O’Dwyer’s trademark pooch Matisse who crossed the high-wire during part of her act Sunday, the internet erupted, and we have since heard everything from complaints to people demanding that Jules be stripped of her title for giving viewers the false impression.

We should start this by saying that it really doesn’t seem like too big of a deal to us. We envision her talent mostly as being an expert dog trailer. Had the “stunt double dog” Chase been one that she had not trained herself, we would understand why people would be upset. However, she still trained Chase, so it’s not like you were seeing anything that was a trick other than that a different dog was involved in that particular stunt. Jules never lied; it just wasn’t mentioned in the performance and the judges were not made aware of it beforehand.

In speaking about this whole situation after the fact (per the Mirror), Simon Cowell himself insisted that O’Dwyer was very upset and saddened that the public had turned against her, and he put most of the blame on show producers for not making this clear to viewers:

“The moment I found out I literally put my head in my hands. I spoke to a lot of people after, and I did raise my voice. But it was mainly people owning up to it. They felt embarrassed, they felt frustrated, they felt stupid, but you’ve got to man up to this stuff.”

Want to see some of the other random acts of outrage when it comes to the “BGT” final? Then head over here, or sign up to acquire some further TV scoop on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)