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Entertainment

13th Oct 2019

The Chase’s Jenny Ryan has got a serious set of lungs on her, as per last night’s X Factor: Celebrity

Jade Hayden

Fair play to her.

The X Factor: Celebrity was on last night for the first time.

Well, not entirely the first time. Way back when the original format of the show was still popular, a celebrity version did air for a brief period.

Afterwards, Simon Cowell said that he’d never bring back a celebrity edition of the series because it was too inauthentic, and because he wanted to give regular people the chance to become a star.

But hey, trying times call for trying measures and all that.

The first episode of the spin-off talent show aired last night. Featuring a load of lads from Love Island, Ben Foden, and Kevin McHale from Glee, it’s probably safe to say that there’s an eclectic enough mix of celebrities appearing on the show.

However, it wasn’t any of the above that absolutely floored the judges (although Kev was decent, yeah) – it was The Chase‘s Jenny Ryan, otherwise known as The Vixen.

Taking to the, ahem, stage out the back of Cowell’s Malibu home, the Chaser belted out a rendition of Queen’s ‘Somebody To Love’, surprising just about everybody who assumed her talents couldn’t possibly range beyond answering questions on a daytime TV show.

Cowell even did his faux wow-did-I-just-hear-that-what-a-note head spin for the benefit of the audience at home and the cameraman on four.

Basically, Jenny was miles better than most other acts we saw last night so sure look, we’ll give it to her.

“Wow Jenny where did all that come from?” asked Louis Walsh. “You have just got a great voice.”

“Jenny, you were like, ‘I don’t really care y’all… Welcome to my back garden'” added Nicole Scherzinger.

Cowell, vacant as ever, dropped in his two cents in the form of a pleasant: “Good for you.”

Just glad to be a part of it Simon, right?

The X Factor: Celebrity continues next weekend at 8.30pm on Virgin Media One.