'˜Viva's like a show in your living room'

She was only in Blackpool last week, as part of the cast of Fat Friends, but she’s still looking forward to coming back with her band as part of Viva Blackpool’s Pride celebrations.

“I did my first tour in Blackpool, and then the Power Of Love tour too, then Fat Friends last week so it’s pretty good to be coming back,” she said.

“Doing a cabaret-type venue like Viva is like performing in your front room - it’s lovely.

“There will be good music, a great band and a few giggles.

“I’ve got great singers with me too, and it will be a good old time with lots of energy on stage.”

Despite many years putting in the ground work, Sam had followed the traditional paths of holiday park and cruise ship entertainment before joining the prison service, she says it’s ‘luck’ which landed her where she is today - and being ‘one of us’ meaning the public got behind her on the talent show.

“It could have been anybody up there on the X Factor, there are so many good singers out there on the circuit - it’s luck a lot of the time if you succeed,” the 40-year-old from Leicester said.

“I was just a normal person, so somebody who’d been told from a young age that I could be a star.

“I just thought ‘I’ll have a go’, and I think that’s why people took to me and I won the show.”

* Sam Bailey, Viva Blackpool, Sunday, 7.45pm. Book at www.vivablackpool.com.