LONDON, May 22, 2026 — For the first time in the history of Britain’s Got Talent, two magicians will compete in a season Grand Final when Series 19 concludes live on ITV1, ITVX and STV on Saturday, May 30.
Rafferty Coope, 17, of Winchester, England, and Fabian Fox, 26, of Krumbach, Austria, each won their respective semi-finals on public votes to earn their places in the finale — Coope in Semi-Final 4 on May 16 and Fox in Semi-Final 2 on May 2. Their simultaneous presence in the final marks a notable moment for magic on one of television’s most watched stages.
Coope, a former chorister and current Music and Acting student at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, blends close-up magic with live musical performance. He earned his semi-final berth via a Golden Buzzer from judge KSI following an audition at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens in which he derived a piano melody from a sequence of playing cards — ending with the audience on its feet singing along to “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey before the cards were turned face down to reveal the word “B-E-L-I-E-V-E” on their backs. In the semi-final, he built a full musical arrangement live on stage before each judge turned over a card to reveal one of the deck’s four Queens — a nod to the Queen track “Don’t Stop Me Now” he had just performed.
Fox, who grew up on a dairy farm in Krumbach and discovered magic at age 10, is a veteran of European talent competitions having placed as runner-up on Germany’s Das Supertalent in 2025. His semi-final performance sent him by motorcycle into a suspended cage, from which he vanished — reappearing in the audience moments later. A video then revealed he had “traveled” to KSI’s primary school, the postcode of which had been encoded in the sequence the judges had selected. KSI’s former teacher appeared in the footage, leaving the judge visibly stunned.
Magicians have a strong track record on BGT’s biggest stage. Darcy Oake reached the final in 2014, Jamie Raven finished runner-up in 2015, and Richard Jones became the first magician to win the competition in 2016. In 2019, Ben Hart and Marc Spelmann placed third and second respectively. Richard Essien, known professionally as Magical Bones, reached the final in 2020, and just two years ago Jack Rhodes — a former nuclear engineer from Cumbria — finished runner-up in the 2024 final, losing narrowly to singer Sydnie Christmas. Harry Moulding won the title outright last year. But no two magicians have ever competed in the same series Grand Final together — until now.
The complete Series 19 Grand Final lineup features ten acts: singer Matty Juniosa, who earned Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer; poet Sonny Green, who earned the judges’ Golden Buzzer in Semi-Final 4; Coope, who earned KSI’s Golden Buzzer; acrobatic dog act Anastasiia Beaumont and Salsa; synchronized dance troupe Sadeck Berrabah and LMA; intergenerational singing duo Lucciano and Frankie; The Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir, who earned Amanda Holden’s Golden Buzzer to raise awareness for mental health in farming; acrobatic performer Liwei Yang; comedian Ted Hill; and Fox.
The Britain’s Got Talent Grand Final airs Saturday, May 30, beginning at 7 p.m. on ITV1 and ITVX, running through to approximately 9 p.m. Same-night streaming is available on STV Player for viewers in Scotland. The winner receives £250,000 and a performance slot at the Royal Variety Performance.
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