Josephine Lee: "I'm doing this for women in magic"

Josephine Lee has revealed just what inspired her weird and wonderful Audition trick and that when it comes to winning BGT, she’s doing it for the girls.

The former magician’s assistant left us all spooked with her performance on Saturday’s BGT, with Josephine confessing that her act - which saw her transport floating balls across the stage - was inspired by a certain Disney film.

When asked about how she came up with the illusion, she stated: “The idea came from watching Disney movies, especially Maleficent - that kind of spooky feeling that she has, that witchy feeling with the magical powers - that’s where the inspiration came from.

“It’s original, so I knew no one would have really seen it done like that before. I knew there was going to be some talk about it but I had a feeling it would be people in the magic industry, but actually, it’s the whole audience and they seem absolutely baffled by it, which is wonderful.”

Despite naming Simon as the Judge she was keen to impress, Josephine went on to claim that it was the praise from female panelists Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon that left her with a huge smile on her face.

She explained: “It really meant a lot that Alesha and Amanda had nice comments to say because I’m doing this for women, women in magic. There is such a huge gender imbalance and to me, that’s what is so important – representing women and getting the message out that there is space for us in this industry. And, to have the two women Judges support that, really means a lot.”

Josephine stated that since gracing our screens, she’s received a lot of support from female magicians around the world, going on to praise fellow sorceress, 8-year old Issy Simpson, who also managed to get four big yeses from the Judges.

Speaking of Issy, she said: “The two of us, it’s almost like killing two birds with one stone! She’s getting that message out and inspiring the younger generation and I’m doing the slightly older generation. I think together, we’d make an amazing team!”

Josephine concluded that it would be “an absolute dream come true” to win BGT and take to the stage at the Royal Variety Performance, saying: “It would be a massive thing for the magic industry to have a female magician performing at the Royal Variety. To stand there as one of Britain’s few female magicians and to perform in front of the Royal Family would just be amazing, and not just for me, it would open up this door for other women to step forward and also showcase what they can do.”

Can Josephine take the title? Check out her competition when Britain’s Got Talent returns to ITV this Saturday, 6th May, at 8pm. If you missed her Audition, make sure you catch up now on The ITV Hub now.