Cheryl Cole: Her Story - the Unauthorized Biography (7 page)

Eventually, word got out to the papers that Cheryl and Jacob were seeing each other. At first there was talk that the relationship might have been a way for the couple to give their profile an extra boost on the show. ‘Their relationship was plastered all over the papers and the teen magazines,’ Jamie recalled. ‘Some thought it was all just a publicity stunt, but she always used to tell me she did feel something for him and I believed her.’

Sadly, the blossoming romance would soon be nipped in the bud. It was rumoured that the show’s PRs suggested to Cheryl that perhaps it was better for her to focus on the show and not get distracted by boys. The result was that Cheryl and Jacob parted company, just days before the live shows were about to begin. It was a hard decision, but in the end Cheryl felt it was the right thing to do.

‘It’s a shame, but we don’t have time to see each other any more,’ she said a few weeks after the split in the
Sun.
‘We didn’t get a chance to get to know each other properly.’ But whether it was her decision or not, Cheryl didn’t have time to mourn the loss of her relationship: she had a TV show, and the opportunity of a place in a girlband to worry about. Luckily for Cheryl, she and the girls had a week’s reprieve because the boys –
Jamie Shaw, Mikey Green, Daniel Pearce, Anton Gordon, Matt Johnson, Chris Park, Peter Smith, Keith Semple, Nikk Mager and Andrew Kinlochan – were first up to battle each other for a place in the band.

After the boys had performed an opening number as a group, they each took turns to sing their own carefully chosen song. When all ten of them had sung, host Davina opened the phone lines and asked the public to make a life-changing decision – to choose their favourite male star.

A couple of hours later, on the results show, Davina announced that Chris and Andrew had received the lowest number of votes. It came as no surprise to either of them, since they had both been criticized by the judges after their performances in the earlier show; but the prospect of being booted off at this stage was almost too much to bear.

As Davina stalled over revealing which of the two boys would be saying goodbye to their housemates and to the competition, Cheryl sat in the audience looking on, aware that she too could find herself in danger of being kicked off. However, that was still a week away. For now, her heart went out to the two boys whom she had befriended over the last few weeks. She didn’t want either of them to go, but she knew that it was all part of the process, and hoped that neither boy would be too devastated by the result. In the end, it was Andrew who pulled in the fewest number of votes and bid farewell to the competition and his new friends.

A week later, it was the girls’ turn to showcase their talents to the nation. Although nerves had been nagging her all day, Cheryl was confident that her rendition of The Foundations’ classic ‘Now That I’ve Found You’ would ensure she wouldn’t
end up wallowing in the final two. During the rehearsals in the afternoon, she had given a strong performance. But when it got round to the proper live show, she felt more nervous than she had so far.

When Davina announced her name, Cheryl strode out onto the stage and took her spot. As she waited for a VT clip about her week to be played out, she looked anxiously into the audience, searching out her mum for support. And there was her family beaming back at her, their faces filled with pride. Cheryl felt strong again. With her family’s backing she knew she could pretty much do anything.

The clip ended and the introduction to Cheryl’s number sprang into life. As she waited to sing her first line, her heart beat fast and her stomach felt empty; but when it came to hitting that first note, the exhilaration she felt was amazing. The next minute and a half whooshed by in a blur, and when she sang her final note she couldn’t believe she had made it through the song so quickly. Even better, no sooner had the music stopped than the audience had burst into rapturous and almost deafening applause. If the volume of their clapping and cheering was anything to go by – with a considerable contribution from the Tweedy camp – then Cheryl reckoned her position on the show would be safe for another week at least.

The judges’ comments were good and as she returned to her seat at the edge of the stage, she felt confident. Her future now lay in the hands of the great British public. Had she done enough to win over the Saturday night TV audience? Well, there was nothing else she could do but wait and watch the other girls try their hardest as they belted out their numbers.

In the results show screened later in the evening, Davina
started to announce which of the girls were safe from eviction. Cheryl bowed her head and closed her eyes, hoping she’d make it through. And when she heard her own name pass Davina’s lips, she felt jubilant, as if she’d won the whole competition. But the exhilaration of surviving another week was dampened when it emerged that Kimberley, whom Cheryl had grown fond of, and Lynsey, who was Sarah Harding’s close friend and roommate, were the two with the lowest number of votes.

Then, finally, Davina announced that the journey was over for Lynsey. Lynsey was devastated by the decision but seemingly not half as much as Sarah, who dissolved into tears. Although Cheryl was relieved to be safe, losing one of their number brought home to the girls just how vulnerable they were and how none of them had control over their ultimate destiny on the show. Their journey back to the house was a sombre one, knowing that over the next few weeks, four more girls would have to experience this cruel cull.

The following week it was the boys’ turn again, but this particular show took a soap opera-like turn when Peter stepped forward and dramatically announced that he had decided to quit the show because he had lied about his age and was actually too old to be taking part in the competition. Although the melodramatic move was later viewed by cynics as premeditated and stage-managed, the gasp from the audience at the time sounded genuine and even Davina looked surprised by the news.

Peter explained that seeing Andrew get kicked off the show a fortnight before had made him realize that he couldn’t carry on depriving the other hopefuls of landing a place in the band. The boys all burst into tears at their friend’s revelation
and decision, and the girls in the audience couldn’t contain their emotions, while the judges and the host seemed taken aback.

So after another night of drama passed, Peter headed home and the competition resumed as normal. But unfortunately for Cheryl, week two proved much more difficult than the first. Going in to the live show, Cheryl was feeling confident, and when the introduction started to Shania Twain’s ‘Still The One’, she wasn’t half as nervous as in her first performance. As she launched in to the mid-tempo number, Cheryl seemed a lot more in control than before. With positive comments from the judges, Cheryl left the stage with reason to expect that she would be safe for another week.

However, in the results show later in the evening, Cheryl was upset to discover that her performance hadn’t impressed the TV audience as much as she had hoped, and she was devastated to find herself in the bottom four. Luckily for her, Davina revealed that Kimberley and Chloe were the ones who had received the lowest votes and that Chloe was the hopeful whose dreams were now sadly over.

The experience of coming in the bottom four was devastating to Cheryl and she never wanted to be in that situation again. She knew if she wanted to survive in the competition she had to make sure that her next performance was a show-stealer that would make her stand out from the crowd.

In spite of her fears, Cheryl managed not to dwell on her unhappiness for too long. In fact, being kicked off the show was the last thing on her mind when she got to meet boyband Blue behind the scenes at
CD:UK.
Although she wasn’t their biggest fan, she had danced to their songs many times in the
clubs back home. And what girl wouldn’t be excited to meet gorgeous pop pin-ups? Here she was, nineteen-year-old Cheryl Tweedy from Heaton, backstage at one of the biggest music shows in the country, breathing in the same air as Blue – who seemed just as excited to meet her as she was them. Duncan James and Simon Webbe both bathed Cheryl with kisses when they were introduced, and admitted that they thought she was very beautiful.

However, Duncan put Cheryl’s nose out of joint by revealing that he was rooting for Javine – though he hastily added that he liked Cheryl and Aimee, too. Meanwhile, the band’s wild man, Lee Ryan, boisterously bounded up to her and announced at the top of his voice that he thought Cheryl was ‘fit’. In fact, so stunned was he by her natural beauty that, as he was leaving, he could be heard chanting, ‘She’s fit! She’s well fit,’ all the way along the corridor until he’d left the building.

Cheryl was left dumbstruck – never in a million years did she think she’d have
bona fide
hunks like Blue not only stopping to talk to her but being impressed by her looks. ‘For the first time in my life I’m speechless,’ she admitted. However, in spite of their praise, she didn’t seem too over-awed by the meeting when she was asked about her experience on
Popstars: The Rivals Extra.

‘I think it’s every teenage girl’s dream to meet Blue,’ she told presenter Hayley Evetts. ‘But to be honest, I look at them as normal people. I was excited, don’t get me wrong, I’ve listened to their songs on the radio, but they look exactly the same as they do on the telly.’ And when she was asked if she had a favourite member, Lee Ryan was probably gutted to hear that she didn’t.

But meeting Blue paled in comparison to the night that she and the girls got the chance to kick up their heels and rub shoulders with the rich and famous at the launch party for Westlife’s greatest hits album,
Unbreakable.
The night was spectacular and not like anything the girls had ever experienced before, tucking into cocktails and champagne. Their evening had started out in style when they’d been picked up by a blacked-out limousine from their house and were then transported like royalty to the centre of London where they partied the night away with stars such as Ronan Keating and It-girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, as well as the Westlife boys. The evening was a blast as the girls got to experience what life could be like for them if they made it into the band. Sarah was in fun mode all evening, while Nicola Roberts was thrilled just to be breathing in the same air as Westlife, as she had been a lifelong fan of the band.

Later in the week, the girls sampled their first taste of tabloid exaggeration when the papers reported that Sarah Harding and Kian Egan were now dating and that young Aimee had snogged the band’s Mark Feehily in a dark corner of the party. Bearing in mind hunky Mark would later come out as gay, the stories now sound like tabloid spin. Nevertheless, as the girls sat around their kitchen table flicking through the papers, they were amused and excited that they were considered newsworthy enough to be written about.

After the thrill and elation of partying with the A-list, Cheryl returned to earth with a bump when, in the next girls’ round, she found herself languishing in the bottom two, even though she had pulled off a well-received performance of Sinead O’Connor’s hit ‘Nothing Compares 2U’. Louis had declared
that her rendition of the song was ‘absolutely great’, and that he’d have no qualms about putting her in the band, while Geri congratulated her on picking a good song. But those positive comments weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, and she felt winded when Davina announced that she and her best mate in the house, Aimee, were the two with the lowest votes. To Cheryl, this was a lose-lose situation. If she was eliminated, then her journey was over and she’d have to go back to real life. But if she did carry on in the competition, it meant that she would be losing her pal Aimee, with whom she had bonded so well and shared so much.

In the end, it was Cheryl who would survive another week, which meant sixteen-year-old Aimee had to say goodbye to the world she had become accustomed to. Aimee’s exit hit Cheryl hard. She even said that she wished she’d have been kicked off instead of Aimee. ‘I would have preferred to have gone so that she didn’t have to go through it. She was only young,’ Cheryl said on
Popstars: The Rivals Extra.
‘I was only nineteen, but I’d taken knocks, I was stronger.’

That night, back at the house, Cheryl commiserated with Aimee: their journey together had been a fun one and neither wanted to say goodbye. Aimee packed up her stuff and left the house for the final time. But determined Cheryl couldn’t afford to let Aimee’s departure get her down for long. There was just one more week to go before the final line-up of the band was decided. And nothing was going to get in Cheryl’s way. She was going to make it into the band, no matter what.

The moment had finally arrived. After weeks of auditions and singing on live TV in front of millions of viewers, Cheryl and her five remaining housemates were about to discover which of them would wake up the next morning as fully fledged popstars. Having performed their final songs, there was nothing more they could do: their future lay in the hands of the great British public. Sitting on stage on the orange
Popstars
sofa, waiting for Davina to announce the final band members, Cheryl was trying to predict what might happen in the next few minutes.

In many people’s minds, Nadine and Javine were shoo-ins, no question about it. Nadine had received universal glowing praise practically every week and had been described as a new Mariah Carey and Celine Dion rolled into one. Even Cheryl had to admit that her voice was faultless and probably the best in the competition. On the final show she had sung ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ which she attacked with gusto. And her hard work had paid off; the judges loved her. ‘Great job -
there was a bit of a wiggle – let go and do your own thing,’ Geri gushed; while Louis beamed, ‘This band will be the start of a long career for Nadine Coyle.’ Pete proved just as impressed and described her performance as ‘fabulous’.

Meanwhile, Javine was also proving popular. Described by many as the UK’s answer to Whitney Houston, she was the contestant with the powerhouse vocals and that dash of urban cool that some thought would give the final band an all-important edge. Her final performance was a rousing rendition of Chaka Khan’s ‘I’m Every Woman’. When she finished the song, the audience went wild and the other girls had looked at each other and agreed that Javine was in the band for sure. The judges seemed to agree. ‘So impressive,’ was Geri’s input. Louis then confidently declared, ‘She’s got soul – great performer – has to make the band.’ And Pete concurred, stating, ‘She’s in the band – no question.’