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Britain's Got Talent 2015 final: Vote reveals Jules O'Dwyer and Matisse beat Jamie Raven by 2% despite using 'stunt dog double'

The news has angered Britain's Got Talent fans further

Daisy Wyatt
Thursday 04 June 2015 04:00 EDT
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BGT 2015 winners Jules O'Dwyer and her dog Matisse
BGT 2015 winners Jules O'Dwyer and her dog Matisse (Dymond / Syco / Thames / Corbis)

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Britain’s Got Talent voting figures have shown just how close the final two acts Jules O’Dwyer and dog Matisse and magician Jamie Raven were.

The news comes after O’Dwyer admitted a stand-in ‘stunt dog’ performed Matisse’s tight-rope act because the border collie was “afraid of heights”.

The voting figures released by ITV showed O’Dwyer and Matisse won by just 2 per cent, earning 22.6 per cent of the vote in comparison to 20.4 per cent for magician Raven.

O’Dwyer told ITV’s Lorraine: “Matisse is a little bit afraid of heights so, although he could physically do it, Chase is the dog who says ‘I’m the action dog’. He plays the double for him. Every dog had a different character.”

Her admission has caused outrage among the show’s fans, who have called for Jules and Matisse to surrender their Britain’s Got Talent crown.

A spokesman for the producers of Britain's Got Talent said:

“The audience had previously seen from Jules’ semi-final routine that she works with a second dog Chase alongside Matisse. For the final performance, as Jules has said publicly herself, Chase completed the tight-rope walking section of the act.

“During the competition viewers have seen that Jules' act involves a team of dogs, including Chase and Skippy, alongside starring dog Matisse, to perform her unique mixture of dog agility and story-telling. We are sorry if this was not made clearer to the judges and viewers at home during their final performance.”

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