[Billy]

Liverpool Echo

HER X factor dream might have ended on Saturday, but teenage singing sensation Steph Woods says that definitely won’t stop her chasing stardom.

In fact, the 14-year-old from Skem, says that her experience on the show and the motherly advice of mentor Sharon Osbourne has only encour-aged her.

“I was upset when Sharon said I wasn’t going through to the live finals because when we were all called in I didn’t have a clue what she was going to tell me,” Steph tells Insider.

“The day before, she’d passed me while I was rehearsing and she winked at me and said ‘Good luck Stephanie, just do your best’ so I was actually feeling quite confident.

“But in the end it was a no, although she genuinely seemed like she didn’t want to tell me.

“All the judges were lovely, even Simon, but Sharon was the nicest. I was over the moon when I found out she was going to be mentoring the under 25s, she was just so cuddly and supportive of everyone.”

Steph, a pupil at Lathom high school in Skem, went out to LA with her mum Sue to stay at Sharon’s mansion in the Hollywood Hills.

And, she says, it was such an amazing experience that she has no regrets about her X Factor journey.

“I’m so proud of myself and it’s given me more confi-dence rather than knocked me down,” she says. “Nothing’s going to stop me!”

So, now she can judge from her own living room, who does Steph think will be battling it out at the end of the contest?

“I think Alisha’s got a good voice, and I’d love her to do it because then Sharon would have a winner which she’s desperate for. But I also love the boy band, Futureproof. Whenever they sing they give me goosebumps, I love their voices.”

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