Thomas Vu is a danger act who auditioned for Series 16 of Britain's Got Talent. He hailed from Los Angeles, California, USA. He worked as a stunt performer and was aged 34 at the time of his audition. When asked what had brought him to the show Vu responded 'I want to show the world that the Rubik's cube can be very interesting'.
To begin his audition, Vu tasked each of the judges to scramble a Rubik's cube, before he returned to the stage and was covered with a flammable substance behind a large black curtain. Upon the judges having scrambled the Rubik's cube, the curtain lifted up and Vu explained that he would be set on fire and wouldn't be extinguished until he solved the Rubik's cube. Vu was then set alight and walked around the stage as he solved the Rubik's cube, with the shows production staff on hand to extinguish him if anything were to go wrong, which they did after he solved the Rubik's cube. Amanda questioned 'How do you feel?' before Vu responded 'Pretty warm', with Bruno adding 'I can't wait for what your going to come up with next'. He advanced onto the following round, however he failed to reach the Semi-Finals.
Before BGT[]
In 2011, Vu acted as a stuntman on the short film 'Shock Troopers'.
In 2012, Vu acted as a stuntman on an episode of the American version of the singing competition 'The Voice'.
In 2014, Vu acted as a stunt rigger on 'Frankenstein, MD' and a stuntman on 'Blonde Squad'.
In 2015, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Power Rangers', 'This Is Not Happening', 'Hotwire', 'Scorpion' and 'Fresh Off The Boat' and co-ordinated stunts in Kendrick Lamar's music video for his single 'These Walls'.
In 2016, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Mike & Molly', Marvel's 'Daredevil' TV series, 'The Last Ship' & 'The Day of Reckoning'.
In 2017, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'The Great Indoors', 'Deep Space', 'Agent', 'Superior Donuts', 'Game Shakers', the MTV Music Awards & 'Petting Scorpions'.
In 2018, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Ready Player One', 'Westworld', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'Medal of Honour', and 'The Innocent Man'. Between 2018 & 2020, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Henry Danger'. In 2018, Vu acted as a stuntman on ‘SEAL Team’ before acting as a stunt driver on the show in 2020 and a stunt rigger on the show in 2024.
In 2019, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Bang. Bang'., the video game 'Apex Legends', 'Balloon', 'Sneaky Pete', 'Animal Kingdom', 'Light as a Feather', 'The Rookie', 'Terminator: Dark Fate', the video game 'Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order' & 'Agent Emerson'. Between 2019 & 2021, Vu acted as a stunt performer on TV series 'Barry'.
In 2020, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Hollywood', 'Valley Girl', 'The Clearing', the MTV Music Awards, 'L.A.'s Finest', the video game 'Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War' & 'Yes Day'. Between 2020 & 2021, Vu acted as a stuntman on 'Danger Force'.
In 2021, Vu acted as a stuntman on the Marvel Cinematic Universe film 'Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'.
In 2022, Vu acted as a stuntman on '9-1-1: Lone Star' & Hocus Pocus 2' and worked as a stunt rigger on video game 'God of War: Ragnarök' and 'The Santa Clauses'. Additionally, in 2022, Vu reached the Semi-Finals of the second season of TBS's 'Go-Big Show'.[1]
After BGT[]
In 2023, Vu worked as a stuntman on 'La Petite Mort’, ‘Clock', 'Quantum Leap', ‘Fool's Paradise', ‘Miracle Workers’ & ‘Old Dad’s’, was a stunt rigger on ‘Moira’s Meats’ and acted as the lead rigger on the video game 'Star Wars Jedi: Survivor'.[2]
Later in 2023, Vu competed on the 18th season of ‘America’s Got Talent’, where he was eliminated in the Deliberations.
In 2024, Vu performed stunts on both ‘Agent Recon’ & ‘Jules’.
Controversy[]
Following the broadcast of his performance, the show was hit with 334 Ofcom complaints for airing this prior to the watershed as there were young impressionable children who would have probably been viewing and parents disbelieved that they should have seen such an act at this time as they deemed it to be both 'Unacceptable and dangerous'.
Further complaints were also made which related to the fact that the show never formally explained that Vu was a professional stuntman until his performance began and how despite the fact that Vu's performance could be particularly triggering for some, the show provided no form of trigger warnings before he lit himself on fire during his act.[3][4]
Trivia[]
- Vu is the sixth ever act to have competed on BGT & AGT within the same year with the first being Siro-A, the second being Charlie Plaçais, the third being Mr. Uekusa, the fourth being Gonzo, the fifth being Wesley Williams, the seventh being Andrew Stanton, the eighth being Noodle, the ninth being Duncan Murray, & the tenth being B Unique Crew.