3 days ago
Britain's Got Talent's Ping Pong Pang insist they don't have 'unfair advantage'
Ping Pong Pang's Patrizio and Rachele Ratto insist they don't have an advantage on Britain's Got Talent. The fusion dance troupe from Italy previously got to the final of the Italian version of the talent show and now are competing in BGT's final on Saturday.
Patrizio tells Yahoo UK: "Yes, of course, the talent shows [Britain's Got Talent and Italy's version] are really similar to each other. But I don't think we have an advantage because if you perform abroad, if you do this talent show abroad, there are a lot of more elements that [are challenging].
"It was really hard for us because we are not in Italy, and maybe in Italy we are more comfortable with ourselves. When you do this abroad, it's really more complicated and the emotions are really different.
"For us, every performance that we do, it's unique and so it's like the first time that we perform in front of an audience. We don't have an advantage [above any of the other finalists competing]."
Watch Ping Pong Pang in action in Britain's Got Talent semi-final
The siblings — who lead the group that has about 15 core members — explain why they wanted to feature on Britain's Got Talent after competing on the Italian version of the talent show.
Patrizio says: "Because we really want to show our talent and our unique performance, not just in Italy but also abroad, so it's a big opportunity for us to show that in this really famous talent show in the UK to a big audience like this."
Performing on Britain's Got Talent offered the dance group a bigger stage, Patrizio says, as they are from "a small place in Italy".
Their performance is a fusion of ping pong and dance but some viewers at home have been compared to Britain's Got Talent's winning 2009 dance troupe Diversity. Although Rachele says they are a "unique" group, Patrizio points out this comparison is a "compliment".
"I don't know why, but they compared to other contestants like this, I think we are different," he says. "In terms of what of the dance and what we do but maybe people have a reference point and compare us to this crew and for us of course it's a big compliment because people love [Diversity as they won Britain's Got Talent], so for us it's a huge compliment."
Rachele adds: "We try to be unique."
Patrizio shares how their act will stand out in the final but admits there will be some big challenges along the way. "We will bring something new," he says. "Because we are the first crew that meets together in ping pong and dance, so we are really proud of this fusion, and we will do our best to do this on the final, and our choreography is extremely difficult. Every move needs to be precise."
Sister Rachele explains the importance of being creative in coming up with choreography. She says: "We also need to to find the crazy ideas to impress the audience again. Me and my brother, we stay together to do brainstorming or something like that, but we are happy, we are really happy to do that for the final."
Despite their hard work and graft, Rachele admits they didn't expect to be in the final of Britain's Got Talent. She says: "For us, it's really a dream so now, we think only about this [being in the final]. Our life is only this now. It's a really nice feeling. Also the other members of the crew, most of them are younger than us, they are really grateful and really happy; they can't believe it."
Britain's Got Talent's final airs at 7pm on Saturday, 31 May on ITV1.
