This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

More than 13 million people watched the Britain's Got Talent (BGT) live final on Saturday night, during which Simon Cowell was pelted with eggs by a suspected former reject, ITV said .

The show, won by the Hungarian shadow-dance troupe Attraction, was watched by a peak audience of 13.1 million, with an average of 11.1 million viewers across the two and a half hour programme, the broadcaster said.

Attraction, whose participation on a show supposedly highlighting native performers had led to criticism, won the most public votes after a British-themed display that included a performance to Land Of Hope And Glory and the voice of Winston Churchill.

The eight-strong group, who previously appeared on the German and Hungarian equivalents of BGT, pipped teenage Yorkshire comedian Jack Carroll, 14, who was runner-up, and Welsh singing brothers Richard and Adam Johnson, who came third.

Cowell, a judge on the panel, said the result had been a surprise: "It just shows that this country welcomes people from all over the world, and they loved this act."

During Richard and Adam's song a woman ran from backstage and pelted the judges with eggs. She walked onstage, smiled, then started throwing eggs from a carton at the judges. It emerged that the perpetrator was Natalie Holt, 30, a member of the Johnsons' backing group.

Attraction's leader, Zoltan Scuzs, said the result was amazing and that he wanted to thank the British public. The group's performance, against a backdrop that included the Union flag, the Olympic rings and the Queen's profile, saw them beat Carroll, a favourite, who has cerebral palsy and whose routine poked fun at BGT's BBC rival The Voice, including judge Tom Jones.

Richard and Adam impressed the judges, despite having their thunder stolen by their egg-hurling colleague, who displayed talent of her own by launching her messy projectiles accurately at the judges from some distance.

The pair did not stop singing as Holt was bundled offstage by security guards, but when the cameras cut to Cowell, he had taken his jacket off. He joked that he had previously tweeted that he did not like eggs, adding: "I really don't like eggs now."

Fellow judge Amanda Holden said: "The only person with egg on their face is the stupid cow who threw the eggs."

During a commercial break, another judge, comic David Walliams, tweeted: "Now you all know it is live … One of the string quartet apparently. Well, she has had her 15 seconds of fame!"

In a statement issued by a BGT spokesman, Holt said: "I want to apologise to Richard and Adam for overshadowing their performance. I've never done anything like this before and, in hindsight, I have realised it was a silly thing to do."

The spokesman said police had been called because of Holt's "misguided actions" but no further action would be taken.

Carroll, the next act to perform, opened by joking: "For my first act I was going to run on and throw some eggs – well, that's been ruined now."

Walliams hailed Carroll, who tweets as @fatjacko, calling him a superstar for improvising the start of his act. He tweeted of the teen comedian, who uses a walking frame: "@fatjacko is going to go on making us all laugh for many years to come." Walliams added that Attraction had been worthy winners.

ITV said Attraction won 27% of the public vote; Carroll 20.1%; and Richard and Adam 15.4%.