Stacey Solomon Gets a Hero’s Welcome
Stacey Solomon left her home town of Dagenham in Essex, a single mother, with a very big dream.
And now Stacey Solomon was greeted upon her return to the Essex heartland as a heroine after making it to the final three, and within touching distance of winning the coveted X
Factor crown. Stacey, 20, was reunited with 18-month-old Zachary as she returned to her home in Dagenham with mentor Dannii Minogue.
But before she could get inside for a proper reunion with Zach and her family, she had to negotiate her many fans.
A crowd of well-wishers thronged around the singer, crowned the ‘Dagenham Diva’ by the X Factor judges, as she signed autographs, a novelty she will probably have to get used to.
The 20-year-old, the only girl left in the competition alongside Olly Murs and Joe McElderry, is tipped to be the X Factor’s ‘next Leona’.
A show insider told Now magazine that Simon Cowell is set on making Stacey a star and is ‘convinced that she has the right mix of personality, looks and talent and vulnerability that’ll make a natural successor to Leona.
Her performance of Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel last weekend, when she showed a sexier side wearing a tuxedo jacket, trilby hat and not much else, divided the judges opinions.
Cowell said it was the wrong choice of song, branding the performance “gimmicky and silly”.
STACEY FIGHTS BACK THE TEARS
Stacey Solomon is terrified of bursting into tears while performing on ‘The X Factor’.
The single mum said she purposely blocks out thoughts of her 18-month old son, Zachary, before her performances in case it jeopardizes her singing.
She said: “I want to win this for Zach – it would mean everything. I try not to think about him in case I get upset and it affects my performance.”
Stacey, 20, also admitted that as the final weeks of ‘The X Factor‘ progress and more acts are eliminated, she gets increasingly nervous and worried about appearing on the show.
She added to the Daily Star newspaper: “I get a bellyache and I want to poo! Before I go on I’m like, ‘Oh no, that’s it, I need to poo!
“But you can’t do anything, you need to hold it in and then you’re like, ‘phew’ and the poo feeling goes away.”
Stacey – who is third favourite with bookmakers to win the show – also said she finds it difficult waiting a full day to find out the results of the show, and if she is one of the acts in the dreaded bottom two, who have to sing against each other for survival in the competition.
She added: “Waiting for your name is the worst. As it gets closer you think, ‘I’m going to be in the bottom two’ and that’s the scariest, I really don’t want to have to sing for survival.”
