Britain’s Got Talent winners Attraction were branded a ‘flop’ by show boss Simon Cowell for not seizing their moment to perform in the UK after the show.
He says they should have toured straight away, like Diversity, who won the show in 2009. Simon, 54, said: “Attraction won people over, but now they are appearing on an insurance advert.
“I don’t think they took advantage of what they had. Apparently they were offered a tour but for whatever reason they didn’t do it. Compare them to Diversity, who grabbed that moment. You should grab that moment and run with it.”
But founder and choreographer Zoltán Szucs says touring straight away was never an option as even just a minute of their intricate routine takes months to perfect.
He explained: “The UK tour is really important to us but we would like to put the best of Attraction on the stage, and that takes time.
“The British public are waiting for a very special performance but it’s not something that can happen straight away.
“We are working on two performances, an emotional one to thank the British people for voting for us, and an entertaining show for Las Vegas.
“Simon knows that we will do a UK tour when we’re ready. The timing is not important; it is the quality.
“I want to build up Attraction to be a worldwide brand and I don’t need to rush it.”
The troupe left Amanda Holden in tears in their first audition, showing British landmarks and the poignant love story of a British couple that marry, have a child, only for the soldier husband to lose his life in Afghanistan.
They headlined the Royal Variety Show for Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince William and Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge are said to be huge fans.
Since winning, they have wowed film star Jackie Chan and an audience of 1 billion at the Chinese New Year celebrations.
The eight dancers are back on British screens, currently appearing in adverts for insurance broker Swinton.
Putting together the 30-second commercial, first screened on TV in March, with the group expertly contorting their bodies into a shadowy sequence of a car, a home and a family, took nearly two months.
Zoltán said: “We were pleased to be able to do the advert to give us a connection with the British public.
“I felt like it was a good tie up and we wanted to make sure we were still seen by the British public and it was a natural step from winning the competition to being in the public eye.
“The response we have had has been very good, and people say they are happy to see Attraction on the TV.
The group will perform at the BGT semi-final this Saturday night with Welsh singing brothers Richard and Adam Johnson who came third on the show and Zoltán says he is glad to be able to thank the public who voted for him.
He said: “I’m looking forward to performing and I would love to work with British dancers who want to be part of what we do, to give something back.
“We never thought we’d win, being a Hungarian act. People perceive the British public as hard hearted, with no clapping and no emotions.
“But I know that’s so wrong and they have taken us in their hearts. They appreciated the emotion we try to capture in our performance and made us win.
“After 10 years of hard work, I will never forget that we got the first and the most important recognition from the British public. The British public gave us the recognition. And I will be forever thankful to them.”
Zoltán says winning BGT gave him the worldwide exposure he’d worked so hard for and made his vision to perform in Las Vegas possible, and he’s spent his time since their triumph putting together a 75 minute long set.
The group are planning a residency there. Zoltan said: “I think we will do well in Las Vegas, because we offer something unique.”
The group almost missed out on their chance of worldwide fame after their luggage containing the props for their set got lost en route to the first audition in Birmingham.
Zoltán and the dancers took a bus round the city and frantically rummaged through bins to find pieces of board to build their show.
He recalled: “We had a connecting flight from Amsterdam and our set went missing. We only had a short time and we needed to get it back.
“We went looking through garbage for board to use but it was raining so it was all too wet, so we went to Office World and told the manager there we needed black card for Britain’s Got Talent.
“He was laughing and even tried to get use to take along one of his staff with us who he said could sing.
“I was thinking, ‘This is our big opportunity, we have to do whatever it takes,’ then thankfully the cases turned up. We were the last act at that audition and got through.”
Zoltán says that in the last year his life has changed beyond his wildest dreams and he plans for Attraction to have academies all over the world.
“People know me now,” says Zoltán. “I see these big men, and they say to me, ‘I love your performance, you made me cry.’
“It’s so good to bring out these emotions in people. We are not a one year or one month act that will be forgotten.
“I am glad to be back on stage in Britain this weekend. We may have won BGT but my vision is for Attraction to be all over the world.”
