To those who don't know the show: three Yeses from the judges just means that she goes through to the next round - they have to get at least two of the judges to say yes, and it's not always unanimous. Part of the drama of the show revolves around the different standards and expectations of the three judges, and disagreements among them.

And to some extent it is set up in advance - there are thousands od entrants and they get screened at initial auditions before some are selected to perform in front of the panel. The ones shown on TV include the good, the bad and the ugly, as well as the quirky and surprising ones, and also those with and interesting background story. The producers know roughly what category each of the acts comes into and they "milk" the competitors for maximum effect. That's their job, and it doesn't detract from the genuine surprise and humble admiration shown by the panel and the audience in a case like this. She can't have been established or known in any professional sense, or someone would have spoken up by now.

It's certainly got me hooked - I'll be watching next time to see how Susan Boyle gets on. And they'd better not try to turn her into a cloned Stepford Singer!

Marje