A Welshman who became a surprise hit on the Chinese version of Simon Cowell's Britain's Got Talent show has revealed that he was unceremoniously stopped from going any further than the last 16 of the competition – despite being hugely popular with TV audiences.

Iain Inglis has lived in China since 2004 and speaks fluent Mandarin. Talking to Walesonline he explained the situation, commenting "As far as I knew, I was through to the final round.” However, the show bosses had other ideas: "But the day before I was due to perform, I got a phone call saying the Bureau of Broadcasting had said I wasn't able to go on.”

Oddly, there was no reason given for Inglis’ departure from the competition, with Inglis positing “perhaps they weren't very keen on having a foreigner singing songs about communism. Of course, I was very disappointed, but that's just how it is. I wasn't very surprised." The plus side for the performer is that he can now command fees of up to £5000, so popular was he on the show. There aren't many foreigners so it’s hard to go unnoticed," he said. "But when you have a tall, white foreigner from Wales who is singing songs about communism in Chinese – well, they seem to find it quite hilarious.”