Age: 22
Job: Pub Singer
Location: Essex

“Well I guess I am going to be known as the cry baby of the show as I burst in to tears so much during the nerve-wracking Bootcamp”

The Story So Far…

* Joanna was dubbed as the ‘unconventional Sandy’.

* On Joanna’s first day of Bootcamp she struggled with the singing task because of her nerves. Joanna was convinced that she was going home and burst into tears straight after her performance.

* At Bootcamp, David Ian in particular really liked Joanna’s performance. Sinitta thought that she had ‘amazing arrangement’.

* When Joanna was told she was through to the live shows she burst into tears. The judges commented: “The first one to two days weren’t great. But today you showed a lot of talent.”

History

* Joanna was born and raised in Essex. She currently lives with her parents and her brother. Joanna has been with her boyfriend Lee for just over a year. They met at the gym.

* Joanna spent two years at Performing Arts College. She’s been singing since she could talk and has performed at pubs/clubs/weddings.

* Joanna’s worst job was working in a burger van ‘…stinking of onions!’ While dreaming of fame and fortune I served farmers burgers’.

* Joanna has performed in college productions as the lead in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ and is trained in ballet, tap and jazz.

* Joanna weirdly collects mushrooms and butterflies!

* Her dad once played guitar on a David Bowie album years ago!

What have your best and worst jobs been?

“Before auditioning I was pub singing and doing promotions at Eastgate shopping centre in Basildon, Essex. The best job that I’ve ever had has to be working as a singer/dancer in Disneyland Paris for five months in the parades. I’ve also done some really random and awful jobs in the past like dressing up in hot, sweaty costumes as bears and tigers for kid’s events. And the worst job has to be working in greasy burger vans in the freezing cold at farmers’ tractor fairs in the coldest weeks of the year!”

How does it feel to have got this far?

“I keep waking up every day expecting the dream to be over and then I slap myself and realise it really is happening. It’s so exciting to actually be in the live finals of such a great show. I can’t believe I got this far, especially as I kept messing up and getting nervous at Bootcamp and didn’t think I showed my best. I thought there was no way I would get through.”

Has it been a difficult emotional journey for you to get to this stage?

“Well, I guess I am going to be known as the cry baby of the show as I burst in to tears so much during the nerve-wracking Bootcamp. It has been pretty difficult and emotional for various reasons but hey everybody has their struggles don’t they? It’s been quite a long and tough journey to get here but I am just so pleased and excited to be doing it!”

Is there anything that you are worried about in the next stage?

“I am so worried I will mess up on live TV; I am worried I will get ill or something and sing all croakily or get a stuffy nose and sound all snotty. I am worried I won’t be able to overcome my nerves and do my best; I am worried I will be the first voted off and that this could all be over as quickly as it has begun. I don’t ever want it to end!”

What makes you think you can be the next Sandy?

“Like her, I am a bit of a geek at times but also I know I am quite cheeky too so I think I could use my own characteristics to help me play the part. I have a lot of passion to put into playing her and I just know I could do it.”

What’s your ultimate ambition? If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?

“I just want to perform and entertain the word! If I wasn’t doing Grease Is The Word, I would be still hammering away, trying to get a break. I would just keep on and on trying to make it till somehow I got there (unless someone like David Ian or Simon Cowell told me to give up and get a new career! That’s my worst nightmare!)”

What do you think of the judges?

“The main thing that has discouraged me the most is probably that I keep being told I am very different and an ‘unconventional Sandy’. That worries me because, apart from the looks, I don’t know what I can really change about myself to be less individual to the other contestants.”