The Morning After The Afternoon and The Early Evening Before!

Well, Darrell’s X Factor dreams have finally come true and from what I gather from Nigel, it was emotional …… it was also something of a feat of endurance ……As per instruction, Darrell and Nigel returned to Wembley and the arena at 3.30pm on the absolute dot, Darrell clutching the tickets as if his very life depended on them. I am not sure if they expected to just stroll in as said tickets were marked Priority, but what followed was a very slow snake up, down and around the arena for about an hour/hour and a half, before they arrived at the appointed South East Entrance, but the crowd were buoyant and just as palpably and tangibly excited as Darrell and Nigel.

The reason for the long queues was evident as they entered the arena portals, security was tight!  Trays were provided, bags thoroughly searched and everyone had to pass through an x-ray machine and then frisked if necessary.  Poor Darrell had to go through twice and then a laser wand waved over him, before it was found that the zips on his boots were setting the machines off.  In the light of recent events in London it was all very, very reassuring and everyonene felt very safe.

Once through, Darrell and Nigel found their seats, Nigel had to tell Darrell once or twice to breathe, but at last, there was the stage with it’s huge throbbing X background and there were the judge’s seats all laid before them.

One teensy wincey niggle ….. Darrell had been diligent and followed all his instructions to the letter, and so had left his camera behind at the hotel, the taking of photos not being allowed and Nigel, though tempted to secrete his M & Ms and Super Sour Jelly Beans under his jumper was also forbidden to do so by Darrell …….. but once settled in their seats, it was soon evident that it was phone and tablet akimbo as far as pictures were concerned, as was the eating of popcorn, pick n mix, plus burgers etc., which was a touch annoying!  So our apologies for Darrell’s rather limited snap shots  taken on his phone, which he had been lead to believe had to be switched off, and of which neither he or Nigel are very adept in a capturing the moment type nature ….. but as I have so often told them, you should experience special events through your eyes and not through the lens of aforementioned devices.

Before the show a gentleman came out to warm the audience up, but Nigel said that he thought the audience was already pretty hot.  They were told they needed to do silence applause, to look as if they were cheering and clapping for all they were worth but were in fact making no noise at all! Nigel thinks he and Darrell excelled at this.

Then, after what seemed to be forever,  it was time for the show to begin, Dermot O’Leary appeared in the audience to the side of them and did his bit, all three/four minutes of it, walking down the steps, saying a few words, then sitting down and eating his popcorn …… but this took about 15 minutes as he kept on fluffing his lines.  Darrell also noted how skin tight Dermot’s jumper was, accentuating his honed upper torso …… and then he disappeared.  He had done his bit.

With that the music and X Factor pounding introduction took over, the whole building, Nigel said, erupted  ……… and then, the judges appeared …….. Nicole in a body hugging turquoise floor length gown, Sharon in a black suit with a white blouse, Louis in a greyish shirt and Sir Lord Simon Cowell in his signature white shirt, unbuttoned not as low as Darrell and Nigel anticipated.   On the big screen Simon’s face did look a little crumpled, and you could see the gum in his mouth …… but Darrell still got the tingles when he saw him, even if it was from afar!

The “auditions” then began, what they don’t show on tele is when the judges all huddle up to make their decision and leave the “artiste” standing there for what seemed ages and ages, this was when Darrell said he felt for them.  Simon put his hand up quite a few times to stop the acts and ask if they could sing anything else in Acapulco acapella …… which was awful.  One poor girl went through it three times, Nigel thought he saw Darrell surreptitiously dab his eyes a couple of times and try to sniff in a nonchalant manner.

There were frequent breaks, and Sir Lord Simon was very patient and lovely with all the people who wanted to have their picture taken with him (also against the rules, Darrell noted) and his little boy Eric came in for a cuddle a couple of times too. Sharon didn’t really acknowledge the crowd much, Louis was sweet and waved if you shouted his name and Nicole was just flaky and rambling!!!!

But it was all too wonderful for Darrell. It will be very interesting to see how it is all edited and if we get the slightest glimpse of Darrell and Nigel.  They weren’t chosen to be miked up, so their sage comments went unrecorded. It’s hard to say much about the acts …… but when the show starts have a real look out for a girl named Lemon ……. name says it all, ‘nuff said, Darrell and Nigel reckoned Simon liked her a lot …… but all Darrell and Nigel will divulge was think not Honey G but think erm ….. “individual” ….. she wasn’t really their cup of tea!!!!!!!!

They think they got out at about 8.30, which was a bit disconcerting as the second show was supposed to have started at 7.30!!

They said that they were absolutely shattered but still dined out in style, partaking in a Long Island Iced Tea, their cocktail of choice to round off the day, before retiring very happily to bed, perchance to dream of Sir Lord Simon one day telling one of them that he was sorry, but they would HAVE to go to the live shows with him!!!