Jonathan Antoine, famed for his stint on Britain’s Got Talent, has been in the spotlight since his remarkable weight loss journey and recent diagnosis. The classical singer, who became a household name after appearing on the show, is back in the news as ITV prepares for the 17th season premiere of the popular talent competition tonight.
The judging panel, which includes Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, and newcomer Bruno Tonioli, is ready to discover another star who could shine at the Royal Variety Show.
It’s been over ten years since Jonathan, then just 17, won the nation’s heart with his partner Charlotte Jaconelli on the sixth season of Britain’s Got Talent. Their breathtaking performance of ‘The Prayer’ during the auditions earned them immediate recognition, with Jonathan’s voice being compared to none other than Luciano Pavarotti by Simon Cowell himself.
Despite their fantastic run on the show, Jonathan and Charlotte ultimately finished as runners-up, losing out to the delightful dog act Ashleigh and Pudsey, reports the Mirror.
Reflecting on the moment he didn’t win, Jonathan Antoine told Mirror Online: “I remember the feeling of the organs sinking. I didn’t cry on stage.”
He opened up about his feelings of disappointment but also showed appreciation for the winners, Ashleigh and Pudsey, saying: “You have to then think, with Ashleigh and Pudsey, their mission with animals, they’ll probably do more responsible things with that than I ever would. Wonderful people as well. Just remember everyone that who comes above or below you is made of the same stuff. We’re all flesh and blood and electricity coursing through them. That’s how you stay not depressed.”
After coming in second place, Jonathan and Charlotte’s careers took off when they were signed for a £1m deal with Simon Cowell’s record label Syco shortly after Britain’s Got Talent concluded. They released their first album ‘Together’ in September 2012 and followed it up with ‘Perhaps Love’ in August 2013.
However, they decided to go their separate ways in February 2014 after being offered individual deals by Sony Classical. Jonathan also shared that Simon Cowell had suggested he pursue a solo career during his stint on BGT, which aligned with his own aspirations. He expressed gratitude towards his former singing partner, stating: “Charlotte raised up my confidence to the level I could go on BGT and we made something beautiful.”
“Neither of us had been ensemble artists, we loved solo performances, so it was the natural evolution of the thing. There’s only so much a crossover classical duo can actually do without starting to reinvent the whole thing. At the point I had the necessary confidence and understood myself a bit more I felt it was time to make the leap.”
The star’s solo career has proven a triumphant success, with his first album, Tenore, earning him a number one spot in the Classical Artist Album chart and leading to tours across the UK and the States. Now aged 29, he regularly engages with his followers through his Instagram page.
Earlier this month, he used Autism Awareness Day as an opportunity to come forward with his autism diagnosis from two years previous. He candidly admitted: “I got my diagnosis in 2022, not long after my 27th birthday, and for a short while fell into it like a daydream. The recontextualisation of a life already lived is a scary thing to reckon with, but those things done are already set – there is no going back from here! “.
“I still don’t know what exactly I have to contribute to the broader discussion, I’m in the process of finding out what it all means to me in the first place, but perhaps the naiveties of that process are novel enough to write down, so I try regardless.”
“Much as in our ideological tendencies I would wager that the vast majority of people lie somewhere away from the most extreme ends of a given spectrum, and indeed that those ‘ends’ really blur together in strange and interesting ways and loop back around through hidden channels -though I only have anecdotal evidence backing my opinion.”
“I have met many people who are ‘normal’, but I don’t know that I’ve ever met someone totally ‘neurotypical’. Our inner and outer worlds are so vastly different, and by ‘our’ here I mean people in general. We cultivate inner spaces that twist our outer material world and then expect that outer world to conform to our personal interpretations of it. The filter of our perception generates necessary atypicalities, and divergences from ‘base reality’.”
“We all get our own little ‘Matrix’ hidden just behind our eyes, and we each see a different tint over the real world. It’s good practice to try and imagine just what kind of lens someone else is viewing the world through. Something to bring yourself closer to others, a little way to love yourself. So be kind, look a while through someone else’s glasses, and revel in how beautifully different we each are to one another.”
Jonathan has committed to walking 10,000 steps daily, even if it means pacing around his room, and he believes he’s finally embracing life. Reflecting on his journey, he shared: “For a long time I was just experiencing life, letting life live me, trying to find the next pleasure. Taking control of your own life, seizing your world with your hands, is very gratifying.”
