She’s not a real lay-dee, but farmer Justin has been great craic ever since he decided to don a little black number and reaudition as alter-ego Justine! As we saw on Saturday, Justine’s fortunes took a turn for the worse when he was evicted from Sharon Osbourne’s Boot Camp.

This may not be the last you see of Justin though, and I caught up with him at the weekend to talk about his plans for the future, farming and the curry that ruined Boot Camp!

Brad: Can you tell us a little bit about what’s involved in the audition process for a show like X-Factor?
Justin: Well, I was keeping an eye on the Internet for the next series. That was in January. I got a form in March to fill in and was asked to come along to audition in May in Manchester. I was contestant number 13128. You don’t audition for the judges straight away, I did three seperate auditions for producers before going up in front of the judges. which is the part you saw on TV. Someone said that the judges only see about 800 people, the rest are screened by the producers in advance.

Brad: What’s your opinion on the judges? Who’s the scariest?
Justin: None of them are really scary. I wasn’t at all nervous about meeting the judges. Sharon Osbourne’s a lovely lady. She calls a spade a spade, and I like that. Simon Cowell’s nice off-screen. He did the Mr. Nasty bit on me at the audition, but was very friendly afterward. Louis Walsh reminded me of a mischevious little schoolboy.

I think the competition’s too much about the judges. You’ve got all those shots of them walking around. They show show some more footage of the good singers.

Brad: And what did you sing at audition?
Justin: I did “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield. Louis Walsh joked that I should come back as a drag act. After the audition, when I didn’t get through, Simon Cowell came out with his minder to go to the toilet. He came up to me and said “So, are you going to take Louis up on that?” I told him no, that I was going to go home, but after I thought about it, I decided to do it. I went to the next audition as Justine and got through.

Brad: Was this your first time in drag?
Justin: Well, the first time in about 10 years. The last time was when I was training to be an actor, we had to do an exercise and I had to put on a dress for that.

Brad: How have people reacted to the drag act?
Justin: Do you know, I’ve not had one abusive comment? Everybody’s been very supportive since I’ve been on X-Factor. Except the lady at my newsagents!

Brad: How was the X-Factor Boot Camp?
Justin: It was hard. We were up at 5:00am and arrived at Cafe De Paris at 7:30 in the morning and worked through until 12:00 that night. There was a lot of waiting around and we only got one meal. Poor Dorothy (the elderly lady in Sharon’s Boot Camp) had to sit there along with the rest of us – she wasn’t given any special treatment.

Anyway, we waited ages for food, and I ended up having a curry which went for my throat! You can hear me croaking when I’m singing. The atmosphere at Boot Camp was great though – there was no bitchiness. Everyone was lovely.

Brad:It’s a bit of a leap from farming cattle to singing drag queen! What brought you to the X-Factor auditions?
Justin: Well, I’ve been a farmer all my life. My parents weren’t farming stock, but I was fascinated with farms when I was a boy and I used to bunk off school to help out. I left school at 15 to go into farming and I’ve been doing that ever since!

Having said that, there’s not much of a living in farming anymore, so I decided I needed something to fall back on. I’m best friends with Ian Puleston-Davies, and he inspired me to start training as an actor. The situation with farming got worse after the foot and mouth a few years ago, so eventually I decided to take my chances on X-Factor.

Brad: And are you still farming?
Justin: Yes, I don’t think I’ll ever stop! I manage a herd of 350 cattle, and I have 55 of my own that I run. In fact, the Xtra Factor team came out to the farm recently to shoot some footage of me working. Of course, I did it in the dress, cleaning the cows with a feather duster and all that…

Brad: Had you ever been in a talent conpetition before X-Factor?
Justin: No, not that I can think of. I’m sure I was on the radio once when I was a boy, but no. I have recorded an album before, in 1987 called “Love At First Sight” and I released a single in the 90’s.

Brad: What sort of music do you listen to and what artists do you admire?
Justin: I like dancey sort of music, stuff you can dance around to. The singers I like are all females with powerful voices: Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin, Randy Crawford and Bette Midler. Oh, and Rowetta from last year’s X-Factor! I love her voice. I think I must’ve voted for her 30 times!

Brad: Among the other X-Factor candidates, who do you think are worth watching?
Chico. He’s different. A really nice bloke. He wants to be successful, so he’s pushing really hard, but he’s a great entertainer. Also, that lad with Cerebral Palsy, Daniel. He’s a good singer and a good looking lad – he deserves a shot.