‘Britain’s Got Talent’ winner is revealed

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Despite her immense popularity, overwhelming favorite and Internet phenomenon Susan Boyle came in second to dance group Diversity in the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ television contest on Saturday.

Boyle, 48, had been expected to triumph after her performance in April of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ catapulted her to international superstardom.

She sang the same song in Saturday’s final, but rousing though the performance was, it was not enough to trump the outsiders Diversity who won by public vote.

The 10-member troupe from Essex, England and London receives 100,000 pounds ($160,000) and will perform at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen.

Boyle, an unemployed church volunteer who joked she had never been kissed and has been described by newspapers as ‘frumpy’ and a ‘hairy angel’, was the antithesis of what many people believed made a celebrity.

Clips of the April show were downloaded more than 150 million times on the Internet, films crews camped outside her home in a small town in Scotland and tabloid reporters have followed her every move.

Boyle appeared on U.S. chat shows hosted by Oprah Winfrey and Larry King, but it was not enough to win the show. She came second, and saxophonist Julian Smith was third.

-- Reuters