Former Love Island contestant Samira Mighty has revealed she actually applied to be on The X Factor when she was 15-years-old, but was rejected, despite later appearing on The X Factor: Celebrity alongside some of her ITV castmates.
Samira starred on the reality dating show alongside Zara McDermott, Wes Nelson and Adam Collard, who returned to the villa this series with a new image, and was unfortunately dumped before the final with Paige Thorne.
After their stint in 2018, Samira, Wes, Zara and Eyal Booker featured on The X Factor: Celebrity, in a group called No Love Lost.
But, that wasn’t her first time on the singing competition.
She revealed: ‘I actually auditioned for The X Factor when I was 15, they had that small window where you could audition when you were really young.’
‘I did that, I only got through two rounds and I understand because I sang a Pixie Lott song extremely high, I’m talking seven octaves higher than it should be,’ Samira told The Daily Star.
She added: ‘When we were younger, X Factor was the only way to pick the charts and become famous and get in there.
‘You’d go to the world premieres of movies and it’s so different now, it’s full of TikTokers and influencers, back then, it was X Factor celebrities.
‘I was obsessed and so when I got the opportunity to go on X Factor, it was a no-brainer “let me do it now.”‘
Speaking about her time being in the band, Samira called it a ‘very good experience’, adding that she learnt a lot about herself.
After being mentored by Simon Cowell during their stint on the series, No Love Lost were booted out the competition in Week 3, before Megan McKenna went on to win the series.
Prior to Love Island, Samira had performed in several West End shows including Mamma Mia! and Dreamgirls, and even featured as Debutante in the 2017 live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.
Love Island is available to watch on ITV Hub.