{"id":437144,"date":"2026-02-21T02:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/437144\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T02:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:17:09","slug":"bgt-child-star-beaten-by-paul-potts-unrecognisable-nearly-two-decades-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/437144\/","title":{"rendered":"BGT child star beaten by Paul Potts unrecognisable nearly two decades later"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Britain’s Got Talent sensation competed against Paul Potts back in 2007 but were sadly pipped to the post \u2013 however they’re still working in showbiz nearly 20 years laterBGT: Bessie Cursons performs in 2007 semi-finals<\/p>\n

Britain’s Got Talent has served as a springboard for numerous stars, with champions like Diversity, Collabro<\/a> and Paul Potts<\/a> becoming familiar faces since the programme first launched 19 years ago. Yet, it’s not solely the victors who achieve fame; Susan Boyle<\/a> stands as one of the most remarkable success stories, capturing audiences’ affection in 2009 with her distinctive style and remarkable voice, subsequently selling millions of albums across the globe.<\/p>\n

Certain BGT<\/a> contestants are remembered for their amazing performances, such as Ashleigh and her gifted dog Pudsey, or young Connie Talbot<\/a>, whose interpretation of Somewhere Over The Rainbow at age seven brought judge Amanda Holden<\/a> to tears. That same year, another youthful talent, Bessie Cursons, wowed the judges with her rendition of Wouldn’t It Be Loverly from My Fair Lady.<\/p>\n

Piers Morgan<\/a> described Bessie as ‘charming’ and forecast a West End career ahead. Simon Cowell<\/a> hailed her audition as the most polished he’d witnessed in the competition.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Britain’s Got Talent star’s eerie message to sexual assault accuser before death<\/a>READ MORE: Amanda Holden shows true colours over feelings for Stacey Solomon as BGT judge<\/a>\"Bessie\"<\/p>\n

Portsmouth-born Bessie delivered Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins in the semi-finals(Image: Ken McKay\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Portsmouth-born Bessie delivered Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins<\/a> in the semi-finals, before returning to My Fair Lady for the finals with Get Me To The Church On Time. Sadly, she was beaten by opera singer Paul Potts.<\/p>\n

Bessie has since built a thriving career beyond the programme. She featured in the film Nativity! alongside Alan Carr and Martin Freeman, graced the West End stage in Oliver! with Rowan Atkinson, and played the lead role in CITV’s My Phone Genie.<\/p>\n

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In 2016, her stint in Casualty had her sharing the screen with S Club 7’s Hannah Spearritt<\/a>. Now aged 30, Bessie is barely recognisable from her child star days.<\/p>\n

She has returned to her hometown of Portsmouth where she heads The Bessie Cursons Theatre and Dance Academy as Principal. The academy offers classes in Ballet, Tap, Modern, Acrobatic Arts, Street, Commercial and Musical Theatre in the Portsmouth area and regularly showcases the amazing work of its young students. Just last week, Bessie launched a sale of tickets for the academy’s 2026 show, A Celebration of Musicals.<\/p>\n

\"Bessie<\/p>\n

Bessie tied the knot with Ashley Carter in July 2021 and they welcomed their baby daughter in December 2022<\/p>\n

On a personal note, Bessie tied the knot with Ashley Carter in July 2021 and they welcomed their baby daughter in December 2022. She often updates her followers on their lives on her Instagram<\/a> page, where she has just 888 followers. Several posts this Christmas<\/a> saw Bessie and Ashley posing with their adorable little girl.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: A \u00a33m ‘dream house’ near London or \u00a32.5m countryside home can be won with 10p ticket<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Britain’s Got Talent sensation competed against Paul Potts back in 2007 but were sadly pipped to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[57951,7117,3573,140296,159276,96,24073,3886,129683,44928,152086,8699,124452,4773,3650,34989,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-437144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-alan-carr","9":"tag-amanda-holden","10":"tag-britains-got-talent","11":"tag-casualty","12":"tag-connie-talbot","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hannah-spearritt","15":"tag-martin-freeman","16":"tag-mary-poppins","17":"tag-over-the-rainbow","18":"tag-paul-potts","19":"tag-piers-morgan","20":"tag-rowan-atkinson","21":"tag-s-club","22":"tag-simon-cowell","23":"tag-susan-boyle","24":"tag-tv","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}