Crikey

Perhaps it was inevitable — after all the hype, the meltdowns, and the puddings, international media sensation Susan “Hairy Angel” Boyle didn’t actually win Britain’s Got Talent, losing out to these adorable munchkins:

So what went wrong? Was she too human?

Boyle was only acceptable to us, as a phenomenon, when she was a grateful, humble, double-chinned cat lady. The second she expressed the faintest whiff of a real personality, behaving like an actual human being who might dare to express anything but gushing appreciation for the world’s pushy, insistent questions and relentless curiosity, she was seen as a diva.

Was it the negative press? Was there a Boyle backlash? Did she lose the “wow” factor?

Or was hers just not the face Britain wanted to present to the world?

The BGT final was nothing short of a referendum on Britain, a chance for a country beset by economic woes, battered by political scandals, and humbled on soccer fields to vote itself a new and better image.

…

Boyle — bewildered, bruised but plucky — might be said to personify Britain more closely than her fellow contenders. But this was about rebranding the U.K., and a street dance troupe called Diversity — yup, Diversity — fits the bill so much better.

Boyle, though publicly gracious in defeat, has since been admitted to hospital, suffering from exhaustion. Is she just another victim of the insatiable “fame dragon”, or will she prove to be the real winner in the situation?