My first time meeting Jedward & Olly Murs.

One of the main aims I had in mind when I first created Room For A Review, revolved around sharing my own experiences with meeting celebrities. My review on each of those meets, as-well-as film and TV reviews – which so far is going great thank you for visiting my page(s) and giving me a follow, much appreciated.

Now, I would like to start sharing with you some of my experiences with meeting celebrities, particularly my favourite moments, which have led me to meet the same few people several times. When I think back to the first time I became involved within this type of hobby, I was, I believe, eighteen years of age, still at college, hoping to become a primary school teacher – oh how much that ambition has changed, completely! At the time, I had a few friends who were driving and travelling, and we were all invested in The X Factor 2009, yes, the series involving Jedward, and Olly Murs!

As I was a big fan of them back then, my friend (at the time) suggested we take a road-trip to a few of the locations of the X Factor Tour 2009. However, as this was a few months away (due to the show still being on air, for the live shows) we were waiting anxiously to see if Jedward would make it in the show long enough to qualify to be on tour – and they were, so the planning started shortly after. A week or so later, I remember Jedward were then voted out of the show, they made it to week 7, before losing to a sing-off against Olly Murs. At the time, contestants who left the show a few weeks before the final were known to then do “club appearances” where fans of the show would buy meet and greet tickets to meet their favourite act, and I was lucky enough to have family living in Bournemouth, Dorset who I could stay with whilst I travelled there to meet Jedward!

I remember this as my first meet, and being super nervous, someone in front of me, at the club, was nice enough to tell me to keep staying at the back of the queue as I would then get a bit longer with them, so that is what I did, and guess what? I had a little longer with them than many other people.

I came across the old photos I had with them, when I was re-doing my room during Lock-down, it brought a tear to my eye, as I remember (still to this day) the feelings of nervousness and excitement and how amazing the moment was! Jedward were lovely towards me, and, I didn’t tell my friend until after it happened, as I did not want anything to go wrong and she was pleased for me and asked me if I was still interested in going to a few cities of the tour, which I said yes to, why would I turn that down?

After that, they remembered me on tour, and a great relationship developed between them and me, like a friends type relationship. I travelled to; Cardiff, Sheffield, Nottingham, and Birmingham to keep meeting them! I also met Olly Murs a few times, Stacey Solomon, and Joe McElderry too!

I remember we booked the same hotels as them, I think in Cardiff (both times they were there) and in Nottingham. But at the time it was all the rage, everyone who found out where they were staying were rushing to book out a room! Sometimes grabbing a room seemed like a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket too. It was absolutely insane. I remember we were outside the Sheffield arena, and my friend didn’t have her car with her, and we jumped into a taxi. She told the taxi driver to “follow that bus”, and he was like “okay, whos on this bus?” we just said “oh no-one special, they had no room for us and a few others, and we were told to follow in a car behind” HE BELIEVED US, I am unsure to this day whether he ever found out or not, haha.

After the tour finished, I tried my best to meet Jedward as much as I possibly could, but life got in the way. Unfortunately, I went through a long period where I didn’t meet any new celebrities unless I was able to travel with my friend. Over time we became distant, and now no longer speak, and haven’t for years, I began travelling by myself whenever I was able to afford it between education and work.

I did end up meeting Jedward a few years later, and they snubbed me, this was when I enrolled at a University in London, and had made some friends who shared a common interest with me, and we were waiting for someone at Heathrow, I cannot remember who it was even to this day, but I remember some of the people who we crossed paths with whilst waiting for whoever it was, and the people we came across at the terminal were; James Nesbitt, a few of us asked for is photo and he thought his mates were playing a prank on him as he said “I don’t believe a bunch of young women were here waiting for me this must be a prank” which we reassured him it wasn’t, Danny from The Script, although he managed to somehow sneak past us all and we didn’t notice until someone said they saw him on the escalators, and he blew us all a kiss when we leaned over the edge and saw him on the escalator, and of course Jedward came out, to where I approached them, Edward was nice, but John wasn’t, and they both ended up snubbing me, when I followed them to the carpark and asked why.

John said he only hugs and has time for fans who always find time to meet them and follow them around and Edward kind of looked like he had no idea what to do. Since then, I haven’t really tried again, it made me change my whole perspective of them, unfortunately, which is a shame as I had some good memories with them. Life gets in the way, things happen, I had gained anxiety which is controlled more than when I first moved to London, and life takes you by surprise all the time. This first encounter I had, meeting Jedward, meeting Olly Murs before he became famous, and Stacey Solomon, I really appreciate, as I have memories (both physically as photos and mentally) that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and its this first encounter that led me to meet more people, and bigger names, and led me to pursue a career within media, as I enjoy it, I feel its where I belong.