Kimberley Walsh: Cher & Rebecca are my favourites

Kimberley Walsh: Cher & Rebecca are my favourites
Kimberley Walsh: Cher & Rebecca are my favourites (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh has revealed fellow bandmate Cheryl's girls, Rebecca Ferguson and Cher Lloyd are her X Factor favourites. During a Clarence House reception with the Prince of Wales to honour the 10th anniversary of the Haven - a national breast cancer charity that provides much-needed holistic treatment for sufferers - the Girls Aloud singer also spoke about how she could "empathise" with all the finalists Kimberley, 28, has a personal connection with the organisation as her former dance teacher and friend Deana Morgan, 47, received help from the charity when she was diagnosed with the disease in 2006. Asked which X Factor performers she liked, the singer - whose fellow group member Cheryl Cole is a judge on the show - replied: "Rebecca, she's amazing, and Cher is very good too." Girls Aloud were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002 and Kimberley said she could understand the weight of expectation on the contestants. She said: "I can empathise with them as we've been there, we know what it's like. When I see them I just feel for them so much. "X Factor is a really intense environment, people don't realise the pressure they're under. "But it's a fantastic opportunity as well, these programmes really do give you a chance." The performer shared a laugh with the Prince, who chatted to her and Ms Morgan for around 10 minutes. Kimberley said: "It seems like he's been following my career, we met in 2004 at a Royal Variety performance. He asked if we were taking time out and I said we would be getting back together hopefully."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.