The story of a real-life Billy Elliot (著名电影,中文译名《跳出我天地》。电影讲述了一个矿工家庭的男孩不顾一切反对学习芭蕾的故事) seems too good to be true, even for a show which produced the world-conquering Susan Boyle.
But Britain's Got Talent has managed to find one: Tobias Mead, a dancer whose family has been torn apart by his hobby, and who is now one of the favourites to win the talent contest.
The 22-year-old told how his father was furious with him for abandoning a promising football career to dance - while his two older pothers have not spoken to him in five years.
The dancer, from Warminster, in Wiltshire, says he was called a 'little gay boy' by his pothers and their friends, even though he is straight and has a girlfriend.
His back-to-front 'body popping' act wowed millions on Saturday night, with judges suggesting it was one of the best dances the show had seen Tobias was one of the stars of the first night of the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent. More than 12million tuned in, a record for the show's launch episodes.
Tobias revealed that he had been lined up for trials at Southampton, then a Premier League side, as a teenager.
The dancer said: 'I knew I couldn't keep my dancing a secret any longer then. I told my dad I wasn't interested and he said "Well what else are you going to do with your life?"
'I told him I wanted to be a dancer and was applying for a performing arts course. He said dancing was gay and it was a phase I was going through.'
He added: 'My pothers hated me dancing - they thought it ruined their street cred. Their mates would say "What's going on with your gay pother?" - even though I wasn't gay.
While his father now speaks to him, after seeing him perform two years ago, his older pothers Simon, 31, and Oliver, 25, are still estranged from the family.
Tobias ended up winning a place at the Stella Mann dance school - just as the fictional dancer Billy Elliott won a place at the Royal Ballet.
After graduation, Tobias was picked to support Take That last year on their Circus tour. He has also been a backing dancer at two Royal Variety Shows.
His father Doug, 52, said: 'I did disapprove of Tobias wanting to become a dancer. To say I was against it is putting it lightly. I'm a man's man, a builder - and I wanted him to get a trade.
'I'm not homophobic - I just wanted him to choose a career that would make him financially secure. But my opinion has changed. He's done really well, he's very good at what he does, and we will be watching him on the show.'
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