A town called Diversity

I'm not really one for watching reality shows. I was the biggest Big Brother fan you could get at the very beginning - the days of Irish Tom and the love triangle between him, Melanie and new arrival Claire are all still fresh in my mind (told you I loved it, how many of you remember that from Series 1?!) However as the years rolled by and it got more and more ridiculous I've gradually tuned out. If I am going to watch one of these it'll be Big Brother or one of it's celebrity spin-offs.

Same with the others. I watched Girls Aloud be crowned winners of whatever tv show that was and Will Young crowned winner of Pop Idol, but since then my interest has trailed off.

So Britain's Got Talent passes me by entirely. I hear about it when it's on the news but I have no interest in watching it particularly.

However a few Saturdays ago my boyfriend and I sat down to dinner and there was nothing else on so we figured we might as well watch it. That was the night I first saw Diversity. An amazing dance troup made up of 3 sets of brothers and some friends from different parts of London astounded me for the few minutes that they were on. They were beyond brilliant. There wasn't so much as a finger out of step and the best part was the humour injected in to the routine with the slow motion running sequence.

I knew immediately who I wanted to win. Not only because they're talented but because of the amazing message they would send around the country. Here are a group of 10 young men whose ages range from 12-25. They are all totally different heights. They are from different backgrounds, both ethnic and social. They are such a great example to the rest of the nation.

In these troubled times when a political party like the BNP are allowed to broadcast political messages on television (sorry did I say political messages, I must have meant horrifyingly racist diatribes), we more than ever need a group like this to shine a beacon of hope to everyone all around.

I might sound like I'm being hysterical and over the top, and I admit that diversity and community cohesion are pet projects of mine, but I really don't think the importance this group will play can be under-estimated. They send a great message to young people everywhere, encouraging them to get together and do something they want to do. Instead of complaining that there "isn't anything to do", Diversity shows them that they need to get out there and do something themselves.

As much as I loved them, it didn't make me want to watch the rest of Britain's Got Talent, something I was pleased about when I heard about the last semi-final where the evening's entertainment was watching a 10 year old girl cry as her nerves got the better of her.

However when I woke on Sunday morning and heard that Diversity won the biggest smile ever came across my face. They are undoubtedly the deserved winners of the competition and their final dance showed that they have the ability to just get better and better and better. With each dance routine a marked improvement on the other and each one leaving me watching with my mouth gaping open.

Much has been made of the talent of Ashley Banjo, the 20 year old choreographer of the group. And whilst his talent is beyond comprehension (expect him to get a job choreographing Justin Timberlake soon) I don't think enough has been made of the rest of the group. You can be the best choreographer in the world but if you don't have a group as in sync with each other as Diversity is, you're never going to pull anything off. These boys know each other inside out and upside down and the bond they share will undoubtedly help them deal with the attention they must now be getting - something that seems all the more important with today's news that Susan Boyle has been admitted in to a clinic for "exhaustion".

I can't put in to words how pleased I am that Diversity won. And although these kind of talent shows aren't necessarily my cup of tea, I'm very smug that I a) saw them when they first appeared and b) said I wanted them to be the winners.

Well done Britain.

The only downside is that I've got to wait until 11th December for the Royal Variety Performance! But with that length of time to go, just imagine what they're going to come up with...

If you were one of the few who haven't looked them up on You Tube to see their winning performance...go here...now watch that and tell me they didn't deserve to win.