If you’re a fan of Olly Murs then on tonight’s X Factor you’re in for a treat. Jamie Benkert, 24, from Northampton is an Olly Murs tribute artist and is desperate to make it big. But it’s not one of Olly’s songs he’s chosen to impress the judges with, it’s actually a medley of his own song Dance All Night followed by Drake’s – Hold on Were Going Home and Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk.
Jamie got three yeses and a no from the judges to go through to bootcamp.
He tells us: “I was a bit sad that Simon Cowell didn’t give me the yes because it’s his show. He sees me as an Olly Murs second, I take the positives from that – the cheeky chappy, but I want to show Simon who I am.”
Simon compared Jamie’s latest song Dance All Night with Olly’s hit Dance With Me Tonight, and when Olly met Jamie backstage, Jamie says he took a double take. “He looked in my eyes and took a second look and was like oh my gosh. It freaked him out in a fun way” says Jamie.
Jamie’s Olly tribute started a few years ago when he was working out in Malaga with former X Factor star Frankie Cocozza. He applied for The X Factor in 2014, after his mate pledged £100 to charity if he applied for the show, but he didn’t make it as far as the Wembley auditions. And this time round, Jamie is the same age that Olly was when he auditioned for the show.
He tells us: “I’ve never tried to be like Olly in my tribute…parents try to tell their kids I’m Olly but I don’t. I’ve never signed autographs as Olly. I don’t want them to air me as a stalker because I’m not.”
And he’s already had Rita Ora falling for him. Jamie tells us: “When I first walked out she goes I bet there’s a lot of girls wanting your number after the show, including me, and then she goes ‘I’m only joking, or am I? Then Olly came out on stage and she asked if I get all the girls looking like Olly, and I said 'no I don’t', and I joked ‘Olly mate I don’t think it’s a good thing looking like you.’”
And it’s not just The X Factor that’s changed his life so far because Jamie actually met his long lost sister Georgina, 18, for the first time the day before his audition. He tells us: “Meeting her was great, it’s always been me and my mum so meeting someone else it was jus special. I thought this could be the start of my career in music and to have special people around me was priceless, she saw me as a role model.”
Tune in to X Factor tonight [Saturday] and tomorrow [Sunday] from 8pm on ITV.