George Sampson: I wanted it to rain on my parade

Jun 6 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

Britain’s newest superstar tells Emma Pinch he just wants a little normality back in his life

HE’S the urchin-faced 14-year-old from Warrington who overnight became a superstar.

And barely dry from the soaking he got on the Britain’s Got Talent final last Saturday, breakdancer George Sampson is preparing to get wet again in a UK tour.

The moment he won already seems a lifetime away.

“I just went blank,” he remembers, his voice still tinged with incredulity. “I was thinking was that me? Did you just say my name? Is this the dress rehearsal? Is this the actual show? It was unbelievable.”

His life has been on fast forward since that night. By Tuesday, the day we speak, he has celebrated at a London hotel, visited his home, collected cards from his neighbours and attended a special assembly at his school. Earlier today, he’d taken his dance team out to the Trafford Centre taking in a meal, laser quest, bowling and a spin round the arcade, before he returned to London for interviews and intensive rehearsals in the afternoon.

He’s already learning about the perils of stardom.

“It was great to see people that knew me before the show. A lot of people are like ‘I’ll be your friend’ now. People dived all over me. I’ve never had that before unless I was playing a game of rugby. Strange. Good, though.”

He managed to slip back to his modest Warrington home after the cameras had gone. Seeing his personal life splashed about in the media has been bewildering. “Some of the papers have been talking about my dad,” he shrugs. “It’s just that he doesn’t see us and they were seeing my nan who I don’t really speak to. But I just forget it all.

“I don’t bother with my dad or anybody, that’s all past. I’m just working towards the future.”

The future, for now, involves a gruelling three weeks of rehearsing and performing in lavish arena spectaculars with the most popular acts from the TV show. Just two weeks ago, George was busking on Church Street, Liverpool, and videos on YouTube find him in Manchester raising money for the Rhys Jones appeal.

It’s a dive into the deep end. Fortunately, he’s no stranger to vast quantities of water. George panting and shivering, and towelling off raindrops is one of the lasting images of the run of this year’s BGT.

“We agreed with producers on Singing in the Rain, and I said if we do that would it be possible to actually get rain?” he explains. “And they said ‘yes, you can spend your money on whatever you like, the stage is yours’.

“The water was really, really hot. It’s only when you get out from under it you start to freeze up.”

He had been experimenting with another act for the final, but there were doubts and, in the end, after discussions with Simon Cowell, decided to stick with the latter, a decision that “paid off big time”.

He thinks it was the simulated rain storm which caught people’s imagination and propelled him into the winning place.

“The rain, I think that’s what made people keen still to watch. It was just different, it’s an effect, it just worked really well. I hope I’ll be doing it on tour, it really brings out passion.”

His own favourite act was Kate and her dog Gin, who he got to know last year when they both entered and failed to be placed.

His dismal experience last year left its mark.

“I didn’t get through and everything was down from then on,” he says. “It knocks your confidence a bit to hear you’re not good enough. It just made me stronger and come back bigger and better, and I’ve wanted it a lot more because of last year. I’ve always been one to try my hardest at everything.”

What changes now for George? It’s well documented that he wants to pay off his mum’s mortgage, and he wants a shed in the garden to play computer games.

He mentions dance DVDs as projects for the future, but he’s a little torn in that, to be taken seriously as a break dancer, you have to cross the pond. His heroes are Justin Timberlake and Usher. The £100,000 prize money gives him a chance to move up a league.

“I’m going to take my dance team to LA to do dance lessons there. Everyone’s said you need to go and do dance lessons over there. I was always one to stay in Britain and bring Britain up. But everyone says LA’s so good.”

But even being famous in Warrington has its perks, especially if you’re a 14-year-old boy.

His popularity with girls has soared. “Oh, yeah,” he laughs. “There might be a few people interested. On Wednesday, there were 150 girls outside my street in Warrington. Unfortunately for them, I was in London. But, and there’s a big but, there’s a girl Irish dancing group called Harlequin in the semi-final, and me and Andrew Johnston were getting quite close to them. My ideal woman is a dancer.”

Not everyone’s giving him special treatment. He’s got a detention to serve when he gets back to real life.

“I got a letter home from the welfare officer a month ago. It was basically for going on breakfast radio shows. I was late for school by 20 minutes, and I did that a few times and got in trouble. It added up to 81 minutes and I think it still stands.”

Surprisingly, what he’s looking forward to most, now, is getting back to school.

“I can’t wait to go back and be normal me. Going back to the same lifestyle, going to school, coming home, relaxing, watching DVDs and playing on my PlayStation.

“I haven’t changed as a person.”

* BRITAIN’S Got Talent comes to the Echo Arena, Liverpool on Sunday, June 8. Tickets cost from £32.50 at the Box Office on 0844 8000 400.

emma.pinch@dailypost.co.uk