The Britain’s Got Talent 2026 final delivered plenty of surprises on Saturday night, but one moment involving teenage magician Rafferty Coope quickly had viewers talking online for all the wrong reasons.

The 17-year-old performer returned to the ITV stage alongside nine other finalists, hoping to impress the public and judges one last time in the battle for the £250,000 prize and a spot at the Royal Variety Performance.

During his routine, Rafferty explained that his goal was simply to make people smile. To help set up the trick, he asked judges Alesha Dixon and KSI to each pick raffle tickets from a bag.

After the pair read out the numbers, Rafferty wrote the sequence “371415” across the top of a grand piano. He then dramatically spun the piano around and revealed that the numbers were supposedly meant to spell the word “smile.”

However, viewers watching at home were left confused, with many rushing to X to joke that the letters looked nothing like “smile.” Some thought the flipped numbers appeared to spell a rude five-letter word instead, while others claimed it looked more like “sihile.”

“Anyone got a screengrab of that piano lid? It said s***e,” one viewer wrote online.

Another posted: “Why does the piano say se on top of it…” while someone else joked: “What numbers spell se when they’re turned upside down?”

Others focused on the apparent spelling mistake, with one fan quipping: “To quote Charlie Chaplin — Sihile though your heart is breaking…”

Another added: “Ah yes, that old saying: ‘SIHILE! It might never happen!’”

One viewer joked: “Let’s all sihile because it’s finished,” while another wrote: “Can someone tell Rafferty how to spell SMILE cause it ain’t sihile.”

A further comment read: “So he had a big piano brought on stage so he could write on it but couldn’t even write the word properly.”

Despite the online teasing, many viewers still praised Rafferty’s performance and talent, with several fans pointing out that he appeared nervous during the live final.

“Rafferty Coope that was incredible how this young lad does magic in such a different way! Incredible act who will go far in his chosen career and definitely made me smile!” one supporter wrote.

Another added: “Rafferty Coope is spellbinding. What a remarkably charming act.”

A third viewer commented: “Rafferty Coope is truly phenomenal and I genuinely hope he has a career after this as a magician. He’s such a lovely lad.”

Although Rafferty impressed many fans throughout the competition, he did not win the series. The Britain’s Got Talent 2026 title ultimately went to Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Farmers Choir, who became the first choir ever to win the ITV talent show after receiving more than one million public votes.

Drone act Celestial finished in second place, while dog act Anastasiia and Salsa came third.

Source: walesonline