It’s the experience thousands of Brits lust after – the chance to stand in front of the panel of X Factor judges to sing their hearts out.
It must be the best feeling in the world. Grins spreading slowly across the faces of Nicole, Gary, Sharon and Louis, while behind them the audience scream their adulation – a cacophony beaten only by the combined roar of those sitting at home. Saturday-night takeaways are lowered in unison as you hit that final high note with pitch-perfect precision.
This was certainly the dream for 2013 contestant Nicholas McDonald. And like all good happy endings, this one came true. The Motherwell teenager entered the competition lacking in confidence. But with plenty of talent and the support of millions, he beat off elimination each week and emerged as runner up – a title of which he is rightly proud.
But while dream became reality over two months ago for Nicholas, it’s only now that he is truly coming to terms with the whirlwind experience that was X Factor.
“It’s weird,” Nicholas said, still lost for words at the question he has surely been asked numerous times before.
“That’s the only word you can use to describe it. When you are on a show like this and are that busy, you don’t get a moment to think what you’re doing. It’s only when you lie in bed after it all that you think: ‘I just came second in X Factor out of 90,000 applicants.’ And that’s just the number of boys auditioning.”
What viewers don’t quite grasp about the show, he explained, is just how hard he and his fellow-contestants had to work to maintain their place in the spotlight each week. As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, it was straight back to the grindstone with no reprieve.
“People think you just turn up and sing,” he laughed. “But we were working 17 to 18 hours every single day and that’s hard going for a 17-year-old. It’s crazy and the hours are mad. You get pulled from pillar to post, but, because you’re so passionate, you want to do even more.
“When we started, some of the contestants thought: ‘Oh, I don’t think I expected it to be this hard work.’ But it’s not like you get to practise for X Factor. You are thrown into it and that’s it. You just have to adjust to it. And I feel I took it really well.”
It’s true. Nicholas showed remarkable durability for a young lad who only picked up the microphone four years ago when his mother goaded him to sing Robbie Williams’s Angels at his kid sister’s karaoke party. From that point on, it has been his passion for singing which has driven him on.
It’s also the reason that, although a strenuous process to have pushed through, he has nothing but good things to say about the competition – whether it’s the feedback he got, or the support from his on-screen mentor, Louis Walsh.
The only low points of the experience, he admitted, were the weekly eliminations.
“The worst part was each Sunday. You want to get through so, so badly. And just standing there waiting for Dermot (O’Leary) to say your name, there’s nothing like it,” he said.
And those annoyingly protracted pauses before the results are proclaimed? What are they like in person, I ask.
“Oh my goodness, they’re a million times longer. The pauses are so bad. You’re just thinking: ‘Please say my name.’ And if he doesn’t, you just get so frustrated,” he chuckled.
Although he’s had a chance to chill out at home with family and friends since X Factor wrapped on December 15, the pace is picking up once again. With a live arena tour of the UK alongside his fellow 2013 contestants – including winner Sam Bailey – now under way, and a debut album aiming for a Mother’s Day release, Nicholas’s rise certainly hasn’t stopped with the TV series.
It was 10am when we spoke, but Nicholas was yawning widely between emphatic recounts of his X Factor experience. Clearly, he’s already back living the ecstatic-but-exhausted existence of a pop singer. But it’s not all fun and games. Since he was a child, Nicholas has had to be mindful of his health. At the age of eight, he suffered a heart attack while playing football, brought on by a rare underlying condition called Long QT syndrome.
“I’ve got a heart condition, and I take tablets every day,” he explained, matter-of-factly.
“My heart beats too slowly, so I have to take tablets to speed it up. You can die from it, but I never think about that. I just take every day as it comes.”
And so it’s headfirst into the nationwide tour for Nicholas. With over half-a-million followers crowding his Facebook and Twitter accounts, he’s steeling himself to be slightly overwhelmed when he comes face to face with his fan base en masse. In fact, he stated, he’s still a little dumbfounded by the fame which has come with X Factor.
“When I walk down the street, I forget that there are people who know me. And when they come up and ask for my picture, I just think: ‘What are they doing that for?’ I don’t think I’m famous. I don’t see it like that. It’s just that everyone knows my face.”
And as for coming second? For Nicholas, it feels just as sweet as winning.
“I was happy to even get that far in the competition,” he beamed.
“Second place at the age of 17? I mean, there were 90,000 boys auditioned, and to come second out of them all is incredible. It was such a big achievement, and obviously I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
X Factor Live will be at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on Sunday and Monday, March 2 and 3. Tickets are available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk or by calling 08444 779000.