Susan Boyle's performance of 'I Dreamed A Dream' on Britain's Got Talent that saw her become a worldwide phenomenon was auto-tuned, an insider has said.
A production team member of the show has told UK newspaper the Evening Standard that Boyle's performance, which attracted 47 million views on YouTube, was digitally altered to make it sound better.
Similar UK reality series X-Factor has come under fire in the past week over allegations it used software to tweak singers' performances.
But the insider, who was not named, told the newspaper auto-tuning on TV talent shows "was an open secret and an industry standard".
"The exact same techniques are used on Britain's Got Talent as on The X-Factor — it's the same production team," the insider said.
"This goes for everyone — even Susan Boyle's audition was smoothed out in post-production to give it the best possible sound."
Talkback Thames, which produces the series, said the performances on screen were a "fair reflection of performance given in the live theatre".
"In line with standard television practice, sound filtering technology has been used on Britain’s Got Talent on our pre-recorded shows, but this does not unfairly reflect any singer’s performance," a spokeswoman said.
Producer and judge Simon Cowell has reportedly banned auto-tuning from future seasons of the X-Factor.
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