Tag Archives: X Factor

X Factor Finalist Saara Aalto To Judge Talent Competition In Finland

UK X Factor finalist Saara Aalto – who was a fan favourite to win last year’s series when she reached the final – has been chosen to judge the talent competition in Finland.

The upcoming series will be the first of its kind in the country.

Speaking about her new role, the singer said that she never expected to be a judge herself.

When I auditioned the X Factor UK last May I never thought I’d end up being a judge on the X Factor only a year later!

She added that she hopes her own experience of competing in the show will allow her to help future contestants.

X Factor Finland will be a great journey with my amazing fellow judges!

I know what it takes to go through a competition like this, so I’m gonna give my all to the contestants and share them my experience! Show me your X Factor.”

Aalto believes that Finland wanted her for the role after they were inspired by watching her compete on the UK show.

Finland watched my journey on the X Factor UK because we didn’t have it in our country.

They loved it. So it’s been quite natural for them to ask me to be a judge. I feel I have a lot to bring to it.”

Aalto recently renewed her engagement to her partner Meri Sopanen after Finland legalised same-sex weddings.

The two planned to tie the knot next year, but their busy schedules have left them little time to organise anything.

Aalto said:

We don’t have time to plan it! I did see some photos online yesterday and sent them [to Meri] but that’s sort of it.”

Fans Of The X Factor Finalist Saara Aalto Slam The Show For Not Introducing Her Fiancee

The UK’s X Factor show has denied that it has sought to downplay the fiancée of frontrunner Saara Aalto.

The Finnish pop sensation is the hot favourite to win the contest, having made it to the final three.

However, though the show has dedicated extensive focus to the personal lives and relationships of some contestants in pre-song VTs, the singer’s engagement to Meri Sopanen has gone nearly entirely unmentioned.

Some fans have even accused producers of homophobia, for allegedly playing down the singer’s bisexuality.

‘Why do they never show Saara with her girlfriend? Do they want to hide that side of her?’ one annoyed viewer tweeted this weekend.

https://twitter.com/SophieNewman95/status/805158433645359104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/ItsPasinPhoebe/status/805557194116792320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/itseuropaz/status/771847570440224768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

It’s true, however, that only a couple of Saara’s numerous Instagram pics from the last two months feature Meri, who she’s been with for two years, and lives with.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL8UyNODFoc/

Speaking to Digital Spy, an X Factor insider denied the show had actively avoided the singer’s relationship, claiming it was “not relevant” – despite extensive focus on the significant others of some contestants.

They said:

Saara is totally comfortable with her sexuality and has been very open about it in interviews and on social media, but it isn’t a defining factor for her in The X Factor.

As with any other contestant, Saara’s sexuality isn’t relevant to her performances which are the main focus on the show.”

Recently Saara told OK! Magazine how Meri proposed to her one evening:

I washed off my make-up, put on my pyjamas and sat on the sofa. She just said “Oh, we had a lovely day…” Then: ‘Will you marry me?”

I was like: ‘You can’t do it when I look like this!’ So for me, it was a surprise!”

Before dating Meri – who was a fan that came to see her after one of her concerts – Saara was in a nine-year relationship with one of Finland’s biggest male pop stars, Teemu Roivainen.

 

X Factor Contestant, Saara Aalto, Talks About Falling In Love With A Female Fan

X Factor singer, Saara Aalto has spoken out for the first time about her decision to break up with her boyfriend. The singer decided to leave him after falling in love with a fan, Meri Sopanen.

The talented singer who has gotten through to the live performances, also represented her native country, Finland, in the Eurovision song contest in 2011 and afterwards she took part in the voice for Finland. This is when she met Meri.

Saara told The Sun newspaper:

 My girlfriend – fiancée now – watched the show, liked me a lot and sent me a fan message through Facebook. She wrote, ‘I have never, ever sent a message like this to anybody, but I just had this intuition that I have to send this to you.’ I was like, ‘That’s so cute’, and thought, ‘What a nice-looking girl.’”

A year later they finally met up when Meri attended one of Saara’s concenrts.

Saara describes what happened when they finally met:

We started talking and realised we just shared the same view of life and everything.”

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Saara, at that time, was still with her boyfriend, a fellow Finnish singer called Teemu Roivainen and they had been together for nine years.

He was my producer and band leader. We started dating when I was 15 and we fell in love and we still love each other. But when you grow, you get older and I realised that I would prefer being with a girl. Me and Teemu still love each other like a brother and sister.”

Saara decided to part with her boyfriend and the two girls became a couple. They got engaged this summer after being together two years. Meri has now taken over as her manager. Saara said:

 We are a very good team and I love to work with her. If we didn’t work together we’d never see each other.”

It seems that both girls are extremely happy both professionally and personally and we all wish her the best of luck in the X Factor.

Mel B Says Her Five Year Romance With Another Woman Was No Experiment

She may now be happily married to a man, but in recent years Mel B has been open about identifying as bisexual.

And in a recent interview she has rubbished the suggestion her past with women was simply “an experiment”, telling Gay Star News she was “in love with a woman for five years”.

It wasn’t experimentation. I fell in love with a woman for five years. An experiment doesn’t last five years.”

Asked if she would accept one of their children growing up to be LGBT, the star explained they would “celebrate” whatever they “want to be”.

Yeah. Between me and my husband we have four girls. What’s the ratio, one in five? So I’m hoping probably one of them will be! It’s not something I’d push, but it’s not something I’d push under the carpet. Whatever my kids want to be, I would celebrate.

Whether they were gay, bisexual, transgender, I wouldn’t care. I would love and support them as my daughters.”

Last year, Mel B confirmed she “did have a four-year relationship with a woman,” but now “very happily married for seven years to a penis…”

I’ve definitely not been shy or been one to hold back. If I wanted to try something, I did. I had a girlfriend. So what?”

X-Factor’s Lucy Spraggan Announces Engagement to Her Girlfriend

Former X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan, has announced her engagement to her girlfriend Georgina Gordon.

Out singer proposed to girlfriend Georgina Gordon during a romantic boat trip down the Thames yesterday, and broke the news with a gorgeous snap on Instagram accompanied by the caption: “I guess I’ll confirm the rumours… Love you all.”

https://instagram.com/p/1aM3rARRrj/

It was also the day her new single, titled Unsinkable, was released.

In 2012 Spraggan took part in the British version of the X Factor. She was one of the favourites to win the competition but had to leave the show after taking out a few weeks of the live shows because she fell ill.

Spraggan said she hoped X Factor would help her find someone

X Factor’s Mel B – ‘I Did Have a Four-year Relationship With a Woman’

Former Spice Girl, Mel B, told the Guardian:

“I did have a four-year relationship with a woman. But I’ve been very happily married for seven years to a penis. Ha ha! An amazing guy. I’ve definitely not been shy or been one to hold back. If I wanted to try something, I did. I had a girlfriend. So what?”

Mel B

The 39-year-old denied rumours that she has been ‘intimate’ with women since marrying current husband Stephen Belafonte in 2007.

“No, me and my husband are very tight and solid. But I will be the first one to compliment a woman, to say to my husband, ‘Oh my God, look at her legs’, or, ‘Doesn’t she look stunning?’ I do think women are gorgeous. Crazy but gorgeous.”

Mel B

The singer opened up earlier this month about having had relationships with women in the past, but said she does not identify as gay.

“… I’m happily married. People call me lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual, but I know who’s in my bed and that’s it … I have a huge libido and a great sex life.”

Mel B