ID:31737
 
Now I *hate* reality talent shows. But this blew me away.

On "Britain's Got Talent" (another show created and hosted by Simon Cowell), a mobile-phone salesman named Paul Potts auditioned. He's a timid, goofy looking guy with snaggly teeth... and when he walked onstage and the judges asked him what he was there for, he said simply, "To sing opera".

Based upon his appearance and the fact that he was really nervous, the judges kind of just rolled their eyes and exchanged knowing glances with each other.

...And then he began to sing.

You HAVE to watch this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA
It goes to show how sad it is to see how they all judged him before he started singing. He was amazing. :)
I saw that on the news yesterday and thought it rocked too. =)
Wow...
I can't believe Simon was clapping for somebody.
When I first saw that, I think I almost started to cry. :)
That was insanely cool!

In relation to Sinyc's comment, though, it strikes me that the only reason that guy seems so amazing is that we've all judged him and assumed that he couldn't sing that well... It's the surprise of this awesome opera voice that makes it so outstanding...

If he looked like an opera singer, his performance would have just felt like another average opera song...
I think that it's not just the fact that they made a snap judgement about him: this guy's story is pretty amazing too.

He spent his life savings to learn how to sing opera, but just as he was starting to make some headway he got in a motorcycle accident. After that he faced additional health problems that put him out of work for two years.

In over his head in debt, he was barely making it by as a cell phone salesman and had lost almost all hope for making it in opera before this audition. He went on to win the entire competition.

Pretty cool stuff.
I'm a little late to the party, but yeah, that is just bad-ass. I agree with SSGX to a point, but honestly, no matter who had walked up there and no matter what they had looked and acted like, I wouldn't have assumed that they could sing that well. His particular appearance and demeanor may have upped the surprise a bit, but not that much.