Axel Blake has won Britain's Got Talent 2022.
The comedian took home the top prize during tonight's ITV talent show final, beating the likes of Tom Ball and Jamie Leahey to the crown and bagging themselves a chance to do their act at the Royal Variety Performance.
Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Simon Cowell sat on the judging panel tonight, but they had no say on who was crowned this year's winner as that was down to the public at home.
Axel was left speechless after his win, completely stunned by his triumph, and fans took to social media to congratulate him on his win, praising the comedian for being so deserving.
"Axel Blake won BGT!! I’m so happy. I will always cheer and support those I’ve seen master their art from early, talking 09-2012 onwards. Underdogs always come out on top," one wrote.
Another added: "Absolutely brilliant Axel… can’t wait to see you on the biggest stages!!"
However, since his win was announced on the ITV show, some viewers have taken to social media to slam it as a "fix" as the comedian has done his own stand up shows and has an Amazon Prime show.
One fan even admitted they wouldn't have voted for Axel if they had known about his 'professional' past.
"I voted Axel as well. Had I known he had his own show I would of voted jamie( I was torn between both) I'm really pissed off now. That's really unfair. Jamie should be handed it," they shared on Twitter.
Jamie Leahey placed second with his incredible ventriloquist routine featuring his friend Chuck. The pair had everyone in hysterics tonight with their hilarious routine, but he was overcome with emotion when he came second.
The comedian was consoled by Ant as he teared up, but took the time to thank a friend in the audience for helping to hone his craft.
During Axel's comedy sketch tonight, he joked about his new found fame and thanked his partner for being so supportive. He also joked about his noisy neighbours, including one who claimed he had "stolen" their lucky Platinum Jubilee pants.
In the sketch, Axel claimed he had no idea where they had gone, blaming the foxes - but the neighbour told him the foxes couldn't be responsible because he knew all the animals that lived around there.
Just at the end of the act, he pulled out a pair of union jack boxers and threw them into the audience, as the judges and all the audience burst into laughter as the culprit was revealed.
Tonight's show was hosted by Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, who opened the show with an exciting routine where they welcomed all the 11 finalists including wildcard Amber and the Dancing Collies.
Explaining the judges' decision on the wildcard, Simon said: "It wasn't, it was the easiest decision. It was better in their audition than the semi-final, and if we see them go back to what it was like in the audition, then they could win this whole thing."
Sister Act: The Musical were also in the house to provide the entertainment.
For this year's show, the four judges and hosts Ant and Dec had a chance to choose to send one act straight through to the live semi-finals. Amanda opted for The Greatest Showman star Loren Allred, whilst Simon put through comedian Axel Blake. Alesha's choice was Flintz & T4ylor and all three of them made it through to tonight's final.
David chose dance troupe Born To Perform and Ant and Dec picked Keiichi Iwasaki - but both of them failed to make it past the semi-finals, and Amber and her dancing Border Collies, who crashed out of the semi-finals, was brought in as the wildcard choice.
Simon previously explained how he feared the show would end because of social media and platforms like TikTok.
"I was thinking a few years ago, with all these social media platforms, because you've got so many different areas now for you to become famous. I was wondering, does that mean they're not going to come on our show anymore," he said.
"But, weirdly it's gone the other way. If you've got a social media following, they then consider - not everyone, but a lot of people - they now consider coming on a show like this as a next platform. Because you kind of need both really to really kind of pop, because there's so many people on social media platforms trying to get noticed. So it's been an interesting dynamic over the past few years."
