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Ashleigh and Pudsey

Ashleigh Butler and Pudsey are a dog act who won Series 6 of Britain's Got Talent. Butler received Pudsey as a birthday present upon her eleventh birthday, and he was in a little box that her mother had wrapped up for her. Butler was sixteen at the time of her audition, and believed that she and Pudsey could potentially win an Oscar. She described her bond with Pudsey as 'amazing', with her mother stating that she was 'absolutely devoted to Pudsey', before adding the fact that her whole life did not revolve 'around boys', it revolved around 'Pudsey'. Pudsey was a cross breed of a Bichon Frise, A Border Collie, and a Chinese Crusty Parlour Puff.

In their audition, they performed to the theme from 'The Flintstones' by Hoyt Curtin, William Hanna & Joseph Barbera, as Ashleigh crawled beneath Pudsey and Ashleigh walked forwards as she kneeled upon the stage, as Pudsey followed upon his hind legs. Ashleigh then had Pudsey walk upon his hind legs beside her. The performance culminated with Ashleigh having Pudsey sit upon the stage as she kicked her legs towards him, and he placed a paw upon the leg she kicked towards him. Simon described her performance as 'brilliant', with Alesha adding that the duo were 'adorable'.

In the Semi-Finals, the duo performed to 'Peppy and George' from The Artist by Ludovic Bource, as Pudsey walked beside Ashleigh upon his hind legs, sat down beneath her legs, rolled forwards as Ashleigh lay down upon the stage, jumped over Ashleigh's back after she bent backwards, and walked upon his hind legs. David remarked 'Pudsey is a superstar and the two of you together, it's like [Jayne] Torvill and [Christopher] Dean, or [Ginger] Rodgers and [Fred] Astaire, it's perfect, I think you can win', with Amanda adding 'The thing that works here is that Pudsey is the perfect dog, but you both have personality'. The duo won the Semi-Final, and advanced directly onto the Final.

In the Final, the duo performed to the theme tune from 'Mission: Impossible' by Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen Junior, with Butler having Pudsey sat upon her knee, as the pair entered the stage via a red chair that went down towards it. Ashleigh then stood in the air, before Pudsey completed an agility course, followed behind her whilst stood on his hind legs, walked an all fours, ran across the judges desk, and sat upon Ashleigh's back as she lay down upon the stage. Alesha remarked 'I think what you are doing [is] how special dogs are and what you can do and achieve with the right owner and love', with Simon adding 'I actually think Pudsey is training you, I've worked it out now'. The duo ultimately won the Final.

After BGT[]

The pair performed at Epsom Downs Racecourse as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations on June 2, 2012. In September of the same year the pair appeared on ITV2's Top Dog Model. In 2012 they also performed at the Royal Variety Performance (they won this along with £500,000 upon their BGT victory that year). In December 2012 Pudsey played The Duchess in the television adaption of David Walliams' book named Mr. Stink. On Boxing Day 2012 the pair appeared on That Dog Can Dance! hosted by Christine Bleakley (now Lampard) as judges.

In 2013 the pair appeared as performers and hosts (yet later as but hosts) on Who Let The Dogs Out?, a show that they had previously toured in 2012. They also returned to BGT as guest performers during the final Semi-Final of the following series, and returned as guest performers once again as part of a group of guest performing acts in 2016.

In 2014 and 2015 Ashleigh appeared as a panellist on The Dog Ate My Homework for six episodes. In April 2015 the pair appeared as guest presenters on the 10th Young Scot Awards. In 2016 Ashleigh appeared on a celebrity edition of First Dates.

The pair had guest appearances on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, T4 on the Beach, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Red or Black?, The Alan Titchmarsh Show, Loose Women, Children in Need, Pet School, Super Famous Animals, The National Television Awards, Celebrity Juice, The British Animal Honours, The British Soap Awards, Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up!, Weekend, Celebrity Squares, The Gadget Show, Phillip's 24 Hour Marathon for Text Santa!, Pointless Celebrities, Reality Bites, Crufts, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, The Saturday Show, and Ultimate Brain.

The pair appeared in Theatre productions of Dick Whittington alongside Stephen Mulhern, The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Alice in Wonderland. On the 11th of October 2012 Pudsey released his autobiography named Pudsey: My Autobidography, published by Sphere Imprint by Little Brown as part of a £100,000 publishing deal with his owner Ashleigh Butler. Pudsey had an appearance in a movie named after him. Pudsey Died in 2017, at the Age of just 11.

Ashleigh and Sully

In both 2018 and 2019 Ashleigh and Sully won the best small breed agility competition at dog show Crufts. Ashleigh competed on America's Got Talent: The Champions with a new puppy, Sully and the pair were eliminated pre-finals. Simon stated that he did not her competing on the champions when they met seven years prior to AGT: The Champions and ensured to remind her that she & Sully were both champions, and so was Pudsey and that he would always be remembered.[1]

Ashleigh and Sully appeared on the first series of The Champions performing to 'A Spoonful Of Sugar' by Julie Andrews from Mary Poppins with Ashleigh dressed not too dissimilar to her with an umbrella, as the duo performed several tricks together. David remarked 'I just think tonight we will fall in love with Ashleigh and Sully', with Simon adding 'You have this absolute gift with animals'. The pair later reached the top three in a vote of live studio audience superfans to have the potential ability to progress further, yet they placed third in the vote so did not.

On Monday 28 October 2019 Ashleigh appeared on This Morning in a pre-recorded segment judging auditions for dogs to play the part of Toto along with Dr and Veterinary Scott Miller, and Oli Juste, in a This Morning production of The Wizard of Oz to be aired on the show on Thursday 31 October 2019 otherwise known as Halloween, later announcing a dog named Mikey as the winner of the competition thus playing the part of Toto in The Wizard of Pawz the This Morning production of The Wizard of Oz.

In Winter 2020 Ashleigh had her dogs Sully and Eliza (who made her TV debut) perform several differing dog tricks, whilst 2020 BGT finalists Sign Along With Us performed a rendition of 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey by both singing and signing during the Britain's Got Talent Christmas Spectacular.

Trivia[]

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