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of our faces drop, and our fans in the audience kind of slumped. It wasn’t that we believed the hype when people said we were going to win, but we couldn’t help but hope.
     
    Even when we were standing on the stage watching our best bits, knowing we hadn’t got through, I couldn’t help smiling. We’d had such an amazing time andI kind of knew in the back of my mind that there was more to come. All the other guys were absolutely gutted, but I had a feeling that we’d be okay.
     
    Seeing the video of all the things we’d done made me realize how far we’d come and how we’d made things work. We were thrown together and we worked so hard, doing a lot of things off our own bat, so even though we didn’t win I felt so proud of us and I knew we were capable of going on to so much more.
     
    I kept thinking back to those days in the bungalow right at the beginning of the competition, and it seemed like such a giant leap to be standing on that stage in the final. We hadn’t even expected to get through Judges’ Houses, so to make it all that way was amazing. At the end of the day I was deeply disappointed that we lost, but I was happy with how well we’d done overall.
     
    Backstage afterwards there were a lot of tears, but even though I’d cried before when I didn’t get through at Bootcamp, I didn’t actually cry in that moment. I guess I didn’t really know how I should feel. I’d been on a TV show for the past ten weeks, singing in front of 20 million people, and it was exactly what I’d always wanted to do. I felt like at least I’d got the chance to do it. But of course I was wondering whether we’d get a record deal, or whether this was the end of the road for us. I kept thinking about other people who hadn’t won and who had done well anyway. Diana Vickers came fourth—and look at where she is now.
     
    It was a tough situation, but we picked ourselves up as much as possible and waited to find out what was going to happen. We were then called up to Simon’s dressing room, and we knew we were about to find out one way or another whether or not he wanted to carry on working with us. The atmosphere there was incredibly tense and we were all looking at each other really nervously. We wanted more than anything to stay together as a band and tour and record an album, but of course Simon made us wait a bit before he delivered the news.

    It was like being back at Judges’ Houses, because he was saying how much he liked us, but not giving us a definite answer. Then he told us that he was signing us and we were in complete shock. I had a feeling it might be good news, but until I actually heard him say the words I couldn’t be sure and didn’t believe it.
     
    We went back downstairs afterwards and we were allowed to tell our families the news, but only them. It had to be kept quiet from everyone else, but needless to say it soon got leaked to the press. The whole night was full of mixed emotions really. And of course we were moving out of the contestants’ house the following morning, which would be another big shift. We’d spent the last few months living in each other’s pockets, so it was going to be very different not sharing a bedroom with the other guys anymore. We were all pleased to have our own space back, but I reckon all of us missed things about sharing the room in a strange way.
     
    We moved into a hotel in West London straight from the contestants’ house and we had the wrap party that evening which was a really good laugh. It was nice to catch up with everyone again and talk back over all the good times we’d had. We had to be up really early the next day for work, so we didn’t go too mad and we were probably among the most well behaved.
     
    The following few days were filled with management meetings and gigs, and while it was weird being away from the X Factor bubble, it was exciting to be experiencing new things. The reception we got in the clubs we went to was amazing, and we