Warm-up for an X Factor showdown

Millions of viewers will find out this weekend whether a Wigan teen singing sensation makes it through to the latter stages of The X Factor.
Olivia Garcia, of OrrellOlivia Garcia, of Orrell
Olivia Garcia, of Orrell

But the privileged thousands attending Friday night’s Wigan Warriors match won’t have to wait so long to hear the Olivia Garcia vocalising again.

Because the St John Rigby student will be warming up the crowd with her singing before the Big One 6 match against Catalans Dragons at 8pm.

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In an interview with the Warriors, she said: “I’ve received a lot of support from the people in Wigan since the audition, so it will be great to sing in my hometown.

“A lot of my friends are Warriors fans, to be given the chance to perform in front of them at the DW Stadium is really special.”

The Orrell 16-year-old won warm praise from the X Factor judges in last Saturday week’s episode of the hit reality show with a performance of Alicia Keys’s Empire State of Mind.

While they said she picked the wrong song, she won four yesses from Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh during her Manchester audition and went forward to the bootcamp stage.

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Scherzinger told Olivia: “You have a really big voice for just 16, I didn’t love that song choice for you, I felt like another song could’ve served you better, ”

And Cowell said: “What we’re trying to say is, be who you are because you’ve got a great voice.” And Walsh rounded off with: “You look like the perfect popstar!”

Former Up Holland High School pupil Olivia, who has just begun studies at St John Rigby, brought family members with her for support at the audition, some of whom were moved to tears by her performance and the judges’ comments.

And while she did not appear in last week’s episode which featured the round in which contestants team up with rivals to perform songs together, programme-makers today confirmed that she got through that stage and this weekend will appear in the Six Chairs round, which was recorded at Wembley Arena.

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Contestants, whittled down from 100 to 60 in the last right, now sing in front of judges and a crowd of fans – the first time they will perform for a live audience in this series.

Each act’s mentor will decide if they deserve one of six coveted seats – but they could be knocked out if their mentor decides to replace them with a subsequent performer.