Jesus Christ, I was on Superstar!

Hi there,

I know, I know; I've not posted on here in a couple of years. I was busy, okay?? I haven't had time in TWO YEARS to write ONE PARAGRAPH of nonsense online. My dog ate my homework and I was kidnapped and I was sick and I had to help a detective find a serial killer who collects bones and.......

....D'ya know what; I have no excuse. I suppose I just couldn't think of anything to write about. Well....that has changed.

As many of you now know, I recently took part in the TV talent show "Superstar". (If you didn't know this, guess what? Yup; I recently took part in the TV talent show "Superstar"! I know! I KNOW!!!!! AAAARGGHHHHH, THAT'S SO EXCITING!!). Anyway, in light of my elimination (I came 8th, by the way) I thought it was the perfect time to slap a bit of a message together to try and sum up my experience. Here goes nothing....feel free to stop reading at any point!

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Hi there, anyone who is reading (or potentially no one!),

I would just like to say, first and foremost, a massive, MASSIVE thank you to anyone and everyone who voted; not just for me (although you guys are clearly my favourite!) but for all of us. It is so terrifying to think that we have to go through so much hard work and effort, and there's a chance that no one would care at the end of it, but the fact that so many people voted or even took to Twitter, etc to tell us all how well we were doing was so amazing. For that, I feel I HAVE to say thanks. "Thanks" doesn't really cover it, but I'd be here forever trying to express my gratitude.

I also just wanted to apologise.....AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO APOLOGISE FOR, I'M STILL GOING TO DO IT, SO JUST LET ME!! I just wanted to apologise for my performances on the live shows. I, in no way, thought that they were terrible, but at the same time we all have our own standards that we set ourselves, and I fell painfully short of mine. I won't bore you all with excuses as to why that happened. Yes, I was ill, but that shouldn't have stopped me - when you want something as badly as I wanted to perform to the best of my ability, nothing should be able to stop you, and yet it did me. For this, I apologise.

Having said that, and this goes back to my earlier point, I want to say how thankful, honoured and HUMBLED I was that despite feeling as though I was putting on a sub-par performance each night, people were still voting for me. It was the only thing giving me the strength to put on a brave face and try harder to come back fighting. Here comes cliché number 1 of this blog, but I couldn't have done it without you.

I also want to say a huge thank you to everyone back home in Ireland. I have been living in a bit of a bubble, locked away in the Jesus house, but I kept getting messages saying how much of a buzz was being generated back home. I was proud to be able to represent not only myself, but my family, my town, my county and most importantly, my country. I hope I was able to make you all proud, because that was always my main aim!

I never expected to get so many messages from people in the UK either. I mean, you always assume on these shows that the Irish guy gets Irish votes, the Northern guy gets the Northern votes, etc, etc. but I was so grateful to hear that so many people from all over the UK had been voting for me. It has all been so surreal, and it'll be months and months before I'm able to genuinely process what has happened here. Seriously, thank you so much.

As far as the shows went, I have to admit the as much as it killed me to stand there and take it, the panel's comments about my performances were fair. Based on what I had been able to show of myself, I can't really complain with how it went. The reason I got so emotional was that I was so angry at myself and my body for not being able to prove them wrong. I knew I could do so much better, but just couldn't make myself do it, and that was hard for me to take. Being told I was falling behind the other guys, when I knew I could normally keep pace, was hurtful to hear, but as I said, fair, based on what I had done, so I would like to say thank you to Melanie, Jason & Dawn for calling it as they saw it!

Now. Andrew Lloyd Webber. Where do I POSSIBLY start?? To have even met him was an unforgettable memory. To have auditioned in front of him, more so. To have him pick me as one of his finalists, mind-blowing.....but for him to say the things he said to me upon my elimination was, quite simply, the most incredible moment of my life. He has been a gentleman from the moment we met him, and has been so complimentary of us all. I can safely say that I have more respect for that man than I will ever have for myself (having said that, I WILL be calling him every 20 minutes for the rest of his life, asking him when my Marius/Raoul rehearsals start.....He DID give me the parts, right??). Thank you so much, Andrew, for giving me confidence in myself and for helping me find some dignity and pride in my performances. YOU are the real Superstar.

I couldn't forget to mention Amanda, now could I...? She is, by FAR, the Hostess with the Mostess. What a cracking job she is doing (or did, depending on when you read this!). What kills me is knowing  that the TV never shows just how loving and bloody HILARIOUS that woman is. She had us cracking up from the first day we met her on Superstar Island all those months ago. She was so caring for us all, and I could feel her gripping me every night as I stood there and took quite a bit of negative feedback. Thank you, Amanda for not making me stand there on my own!! You're a diamond and I hope we stay in touch!

I could go on all day about the other guys, but I do that anyway on Twitter. It has been so incredible to hang out with them all, and to learn different things from different people. They have all been amazing to be around, and I'll miss the bromances - not that I expect to lose touch with them at all....Especially my little Rory-Bear! True love, if ever I experienced it....! ;) I know I've kept this part brief, but only because I have spoken so much about everyone, that I can't even begin to repeat it all. I loved those guys like crazy!!

The last thing I want to say - because let's be honest; this is PROBABLY getting pretty boring now - is a massive, massive, MASSIVE thank you to the ITV team. I won't list their names, (but I could and they know that, because I like to know people's names - it's just common courtesy!!!!) but each and every member of Peter & Catherine's team was such an incredible joy to work with. I have been desperate to be eliminated, or to win obviously, just so that the competition could end and I could start hanging out with all those guys on a regular basis. It was just too much fun to work with so many intelligent, funny, talented and ambitious people. I was inspired by their work ethic and the fact that they did everything with a smile on their face. They didn't HAVE to treat us well (it's TV, after all), but not only did they do that, they treated us like equals. You guys, from Press (G & J), to Security (S & K) and everyone in between (Waaaay too many initials!!), have been what made that show so much fun to be part of. Cheers guys!!

So, I'm, thinking that's it. Thank you again to everyone. I have had the best time over the past few months, and that is down to pretty much everyone except me. I've been an emotional wreck and I need to start building my street cred back up, although it was pretty low beforehand, so I'm not expecting much.

Corny sign off, but I love you all for making this such an unforgettable experience. If I left anyone off this message, feel free to bombard me with abuse - I deserve it!! Hopefully, I'll be back soon doing something or other; we'll have to wait and see!!

Love, from a very humbled Irishman,
Niall
xx

P.S. Watch out for the shameless plug of my Twitter, Facebook and web addresses coming riiiiight up.....----->

@niallsheehy
www.niallsheehy.com
www.facebook.com/theniallsheehy

P.P.S. <------That was it!, just there!