Black Friday may have sent the shoppers into a frenzy, but at the Ambassador Hotel, nerves were high for another reason entirely, as auditions for the Britain’s Got Talent television show took place in the city yesterday.

Around twenty individuals, some with family and friends dragged along for support, turned up for the first round of the selection process, all hoping to be picked from the lineup and flung into the spotlight.

Mathew O’Keeffe, 19, from Mallow was one of the young hopefuls at the auditions on Friday.

Mathew said he wanted to audition to find out if he had the talent to pursue a career in music.

“People are always telling me to have more confidence in myself, but I never believe them. If I got through, I would have a better belief in myself and my ability.”

Mathew, who is studying security at Mallow College of Further Education, sang ‘Wherever you will go’ by The Calling.

“I’ve been singing for years, I probably started when I was six, but only recently have I started putting YouTube videos up online and I have been getting a good reaction.”

A well-known face to the streets of Cork was also applying for a spot on the talent show. Paul Prout, a regular busker on Opera Lane, sang ‘Dream’ by The Cranberries for the selector.

Paul, who is from Fair Hill, said he was a big fan of Britain’s Got Talent and would like to get through to meet the judges.

The young singer said Simon Cowell was his favourite judge and he liked his honesty.

“If I got through I would be delighted, over the moon,” Paul said.

A veteran auditionee was also at the Ambassador Hotel to perform for the judges. Noel O’ Brien, from Cork’s Southside, has previously appeared at auditions for Popstar, Eurostar, The Voice of Ireland and The Voice UK.

Noel, 35, said he thinks he has a better chance of getting through in Britain’s Got Talent than in X-Factor as the talent bar is very high in the other show and this one is a little bit more of an all-rounder.

The singer said he would love for singing to be his main job, that was the dream. Noel sang Tom Walker’s ‘Leave a light on’.

Two of the youngest auditionees at the hotel on Friday were Zoe and Layla Spillane from Watergrasshill. Zoe, aged just five, performed a dance routine to ‘Tightrope’ from The Greatest Showman and Layla, seven, danced to ‘Shallow’ from A Star Is Born.

Layla said she wasn’t nervous at all going into the audition as she competes almost every weekend in dance competitions.

Twenty-three-year-old Stephanie Barry, from Glasheen, was another singer hoping to catch the eye of the selectors at the BGT auditions.

Stephanie, who works at the front desk at the Cork International Hotel, said she always loves karaoke and singing and wanted to give the auditions a shot.

Stephanie came to the auditions with her friend Aoife O’Sullivan, 21, who was also auditioning.

Aoife had previously applied to be on X-Factor and The Voice UK and she sang Adele’s ‘Make you feel my love’ for the judges.

The auditions also attracted people from up the country with Tipp ladies Niamh Kennedy and Cheyenne Stewart coming to Cork for the auditions after Niamh’s mom Mary sent a video of the pair singing into the selectors months ago and they were asked to come along.