Prepare for a severe blast from the past in the shape of an X Factor wedding.
Samantha Chawner may not be familiar to you, but her audition for the ITV talent programme in 2007 will bring back memories.
Samantha, 36, and her sister Emma, 34, originally competed on The X Factor more than a decade ago, with their mother and father in attendance to cheer them on.
It’s safe to say that things didn’t go as planned and the sisters didn’t reach the dizzying heights of pop glory, but at the very least, the talent show rejections supplied us with memes that we can use today.
Samantha has many reasons to be happy in her personal life, since she has recently married her long-term lover, Matthew Parkinson.
On Saturday (March 16), the pair married in a romantic ceremony in Manchester.
In photos obtained by The Mirror, the bride looked beautiful in an ivory gown as she posed alongside her husband, 39, who looked smart in a three-piece blue suit and fedora.
Speaking about her special day, Samantha – who has undergone a 10-stone weight loss transformation – told the publication: ‘It felt magical as I walked down the aisle towards Matthew in my beautiful dress and veil to the sound of Shania Twain’s From This Moment On.
‘Suddenly, everything that happened before floated away and I was so ready to start my new life as Matthew’s wife.’
However, not all of Samatha’s relatives attended her wedding.
Her father, 68, and her younger sister Emma were both absent due to a family quarrel.
Her mother, who appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show, died in January this year at the age of 73.
Audrey ‘passed away peacefully in her sleep’, shortly after Samatha reconciled with her on her deathbed.
Alongside a picture of her mother, Emma wrote on social media at the time: ‘I’m just letting you all know my mum passed peacefully in her sleep at 4am this morning.’
Paying tribute, Emma also told The Sun: ‘She was a lovely lady – loved her TV programmes, loved her animals and loved a good laugh.
‘Her favourite TV programmes were Emmerdale and EastEnders.’
Samantha had multiple appearances on Simon Cowell’s programme over the years, the first being when she accompanied her younger brother, whose voice were criticised by the music mogul.
Simon compared her singing to a baby’s voice and told the crying hopeful she resembled a ‘flump’ in a white puffy outfit.
As a result, mother Audrey and father Phillip burst into the room, challenging Simon.
Emma attempted again in 2009, with Samantha by her side and duetting Mariah Carey’s Hero for moral support, but was refused again.
The family then participated on Lorraine Kelly’s Big Fat Challenge series.
The Biography Channel show sought to help individuals lose weight and find work.
Samantha had partial success by losing weight and landing a hospitality job at Manchester United.
The Chawners’ Last Chance was their second reality show, and they participated on Jeremy Kyle’s controversial show after Audrey walked out on the first three.
Samantha and her family battled with the harsh news and trolling they were receiving, therefore she struggled with love as well.
But in 2019, the stars aligned for her, and she met her new spouse on a dating service.
‘He made me feel relaxed and, best of all, he’d never heard of me or my family, so he had no preconceived ideas of what I would be like,’ she shared.
After two months of communicating, they went on a date and got engaged during lockdown.
The epidemic led them to postpone their wedding, which resulted in three miscarriages.
Nonetheless, the couples want to have a kid one day.
