George William Sampson (born 29 June 1993) is an English street dancer, television presenter, singer, and actor.

However, despite Simon Cowell's enthusiasm, he was unable to convince the other two judges, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, to let Sampson proceed to the live semi-finals.

This experience made Sampson determined to re-audition the following year and prove Holden and Morgan wrong.

Sampson was due to perform a different routine for the final, to a track by the Bee Gees,[6] which he described as involving "a lot of movement without me actually doing anything".

[7] An hour before the final started he changed his mind and, after consulting Simon Cowell, opted to re-perform his winning act from the semi-final.

[6] The Mint Royale version of "Singin' in the Rain" went to number 1 in the UK on download sales alone in the week following Sampson's performance[8] and Cowell's label Syco had several requests for a video.

Of his new role, he said: "This year is getting better and better – Into the Hoods show is funky and young and I love the music in it – I can't wait to get dancing on that stage!"

Into the Hoods played at the Novello Theatre in London and features music from popular artists such as Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Basement Jaxx and many more.

[10][11] On 18 November 2008, it was announced that Cowell's record company and Bebo would work together to make an online television show called Follow My Lead, which would include some dance move tutorials by Sampson, but also a behind-the-scenes view of events and rehearsals.

[4] His debut double a-side single entitled "Get Up on the Dance Floor/Headz Up" was released on 24 November 2008, with the proceeds going to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

On 26 June 2009, Sampson became a Patron of Dance Aid[25] organised by the UK registered charity Hope and Homes for Children.

[26][27] He danced before the Rugby league match between Crusaders and Salford City Reds at Brewery Field on Saturday 11 July from around 5pm.

Also in September, he starred in the first all-British 3D feature film StreetDance 3D (alongside dance groups Diversity and Flawless), in which he plays a character called Eddie, released May 2010.

Other stars who appeared in the programme were Joe Calzaghe, Aston Merrygold, Patsy Palmer and Gemma Hunt.

On 5 June 2010, he appeared on Star King, a South Korean television show which features a variety of talented performers.

He joined the cast of Emmerdale in January 2016 and made his on screen debut the following month, when he played a character named Ryan Harred who became involved in Aaron Livesy (Danny Miller)'s child sex abuse storyline.

He also has performed in 9 other pantomimes previously And Robin Hood as Robin Hood in an Easter panto tour with Anton Benson productions that started in Northwich Brio Sampson suffers from a condition called Scheuermann's disease,[33] which affects developing bones in children and teenagers and can cause an abnormal curvature of the spine.