Stacey Solomon is 'the new Jade', says Dermot

Stacey Solomon is 'the new Jade', says Dermot
Stacey Solomon is 'the new Jade', says Dermot (Image credit: Ken McKay)

The X Factor host Dermot O'Leary has said that finalist Stacey Solomon is set to become the nation's new sweetheart - and compared her to Jade Goody. The Sun reports that the single mum from Essex has won over the hearts of the judges and the show's weekend guest Robbie Williams. And O'Leary said she has the same "oblivious quality" as Jade had. "I was talking to her the other day in the studio and was saying to her try not to think about it too much, just really enjoy it," he told the paper. "I told her if you think about the fact that 12million people are watching it you will go out of your mind. "She just said 'I don't have any problem with that. I don't think about a thing!'" And he described the 20-year-old - who grew up 10 miles from where Jade grew up in Bermondsey - as "adorable". "She is not fake or forced at all," he said, "that is why she is so likeable. She is a dark horse. I think she could go really far." However he added that the live shows will be the real test of who is popular with the public. "If you look on paper the over 25s and the girls are very strong," he said. "But no-one was talking about Alexandra Burke this time last year - everyone was talking about Laura White. "It's not just a singing contest - you have to have a personality to connect with the people at home."

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.