X Factor contestant: ‘I broke Cheryl’

Show’s judge was inconsolable after hearing the “best back story the show has ever had”

Cheryl Fernandez Versini breaks down during audition WENN

By HAYLEY RICHARDSON

AN X Factor hopeful leaves judge Cheryl Fernandez Versini “broken” in tonight’s show with a back story that Simon Cowell brands “one of the best we’ve ever had”.
Sherilyn Hamilton, a 40-year-old mum of three from Wales, sings an emotional rendition of Whitney Houston’s I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.
She said Cheryl was inconsolable after watching her performance and hearing about her traumatic life.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Sherilyn revealed: “Bless her, Cheryl cried so hard!
“Initially it made me start kind of giggling in an innocent way, and then I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, she really, really is upset’, and I didn’t want to do that to her!”
She added: “I know Cheryl has a connection with the song anyway, and obviously I think with my story behind it, it just broke her.
“She really, really properly cried. I don’t know how many times I said sorry to her!”

Sherilyn Hamilton wows the judges SYCO/THAMES TV/PA WIRE

Sherilyn, who has been performing since she was 13, thought she would never sing again after her husband Anthony suffered an accident at work in 2004 that left him paralysed.
She gave up her career to care for him and their three children. Sherilyn only took up singing again in 2012 after discovering that she had a heart defect.
She has Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia, which can cause sudden death.
Sherilyn said: “It was at that point my life changed completely and forever.”
She put a show together along with some local singers to boost awareness of her condition and raise money towards buying defibrillators for schools.
Sherilyn and her husband set up the Cariad charity, which provides the life saving instruments to schools, ambulances and fire engines across Wales.

The singer only auditioned for The X Factor after a pal entered her in the competition without her knowing. She said she “nearly died” when Simon praised her tragic tale.
She said: “I know it sounds like a bit of a sob story but it’s not, because it was my life. It’s what I lived for years.
“OK, it was hard at the time but I’m all right now. I look back and think ‘Oh my goodness I can’t believe I got through that’, but hey, I’m here and everything’s OK.
“No matter how bad things are, and there were dark days, there’s always people worse off.”
Other acts to watch out for this weekend include married couple Nige and Kay, a builder and sales assistant respectively, who impress the judges, and Olly, with their rendition of his track Up, featuring Demi Lovato.

Watching from the sidelines Olly joins in, telling co-host Caroline Flack: “This guy sings it better than me!”
Meanwhile Andy Taylor, 34, an ice cream man from Wakefield, brings along some of his merchandise for the judges to sample.
But as he delivers his anything-but-vanilla rendition of Walk The Moon’s Shut Up and Dance, things get berry messy as Simon loses his cool and starts a food fight.