Billy and Emily England wowed Britain’s Got Talent in April with their death-defying roller skating act, which has since gone viral on YouTube.

Billy And Emily BGT Audition

Billy and Emily are a brother and sister act – he is 28 and she is 25 – who have been skating since they were little.

“I love skating with my sister. I will not skate with anyone else,” Billy said in his pre-audition interview.

“He’s my big brother, and I’ve always looked up to him. He’s my best friend,” Emily added.

The brother sister duo made quite the impression with their figure-skating like audition, complete with fast spins and impressive lifts. One trick even required the show to put a ‘Do Not Try This At Home’ disclaimer.

The judges and hosts were all equally terrified that Emily was going to fall and crack her skull at any moment, but she always landed gracefully, and for that they earned a standing ovation.

“You’re fearless,” said judge Alesha Dixon, who was so nervous during the routine, she almost had to look away.

“You know, I’ve seen a lot of roller skating acts on this show. Normally they are horrific… I’ve actually never seen an act like that in my life. I mean, it’s incredible – really incredible,” added Simon Cowell.

Billy And Emily Promise More Dangerous Stunts

The pair made it through to the next round with four yeses from the judges. And, while the audience loved their risky act, Billy and Emily later revealed it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Prior to taking the stage to audition, Emily fell while rehearsing the head-banger – when Billy swings her around by her feet, her head getting dangerously near the floor on each revolution – and cut her arm.

“We had a really bad accident during the head-banger in rehearsals, because we were so nervous. It happened so fast, but I flew off and cut my arm on the edge of the table we were skating on. I tried to hide it, but I knew I was bleeding. I could hardly walk because I was so winded, but I didn’t want to let on. I kept telling the producers that I was fine. I was worried they wouldn’t let us perform because we were too high risk,” Emily later revealed.

Emily bandaged her wound and she and Billy auditioned without incident. Looking forward, Billy and Emily hope to keep pushing the envelope. “We are already working on something even more dangerous than the head-banger. We want to shock everyone,” Billy teased.

With Emily and Billy quickly becoming frontrunners to win the competition, some noticed that Emily had actually been on reality television before. In 2008, she was a contestant on UK’s Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack with her other brother, Victor. Emily, who was chosen for her skills as a circus performer, reportedly came in second. In 2007, Emily and Victor performed their roller skating act, The Skating Aratas (Emily’s real name is Emilia Arata), to BBC’s talent competition, When Will I Be Famous?.

According to reports, Emily switched up her act and decided to perform with her brother Billy instead last year. The entire family is full of circus performers – not only are Billy, Emily and Victor talented performers, their mother Carmen used to be a trapeze artist and father Billy was a high-wire walker.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.