We know you’re single and have been trying online dating, have you more attention from women since being on the show?
Do you know what I’ll be honest, there’s been a few. I’m very flattered by it all! I have had a few messages from ‘Plenty of Fish’, but I am coming off of it by the way because I don’t really need it anymore, not being big headed. It’s nice to get a few responses. There’s a few girls on there showing a bit of interest and it’s like “What?!” I can’t really get my head around it at the moment really. I’m not paying them 30 quid a month anymore, they can pay me 30 quid a month! (Laughs) Only joking! So yeah, I’m going to come off of there but the interest from girls has been great and all the ones that I’ve been talking to have been very nice, it’s amazing.
Your dance moves impressed the judges... where did you get your dance moves from?
I’ve been dancing for a few years really, like serious stuff. I went to ballet and dance classes and the musical theatre sort of stuff. I am an actor in sort of a way.
Where did you train?
I went to Anna Scher Theatre School every week. You learn a lot really and in the meantime I went to Pineapple Dance Studios. I used to go there once a week and learn jazz dancing. I picked up a lot from there, like pirouettes which I did on Saturday night. I did go to the London Music School for one year which was great. Never in a million years did I expect to get this far on the X Factor, it’s absolutely mind boggling, I’m really happy.
**Why haven’t you tried X Factor before? **
I have tried. I remember trying for the first ever ‘Pop Idol’ years ago with Simon and Pete Waterman and I got to the second stage of that but then I got a no. I had also tried for the X Factor in previous years and I’ve always immediately got a no. To be honest, this is my seventh time.
And why didn’t it work before?
I don’t know, years on I think I’m more mature like a cheese… hopefully a nice cheese rather than a mouldy one. I just thought “Sod it, let’s do it”. I went with a big song and it’s luckily got me to this point and it’s just great that I’ve got this far! I’d never have thought in a million years that I would have got this far. I love Simon because he’s just like another dad, you know? He’s just so funny, he’s so great. He cracks me up and he’s just such a lovely man and honest and that’s what I like.
So apparently you changed your name because you had the same name as a porn star?
This was in the paper about three weeks ago and I don’t really know where it’s from because I didn’t actually say anything! I don’t know anything about it. Originally on my application I put Stevie with an ‘e’ at the end and thought I’d leave it at that but then it came back with just an ‘i’ and no ‘e’ and I thought, “OK that’ll do, that’s fine”. I know if you google Stevie Richie it comes up with Stevie-Louise Ritchie which is no relation, but they’re a glamour model. But yeah, I don’t know where that came from! It’s weird, but I’m just playing along with it.
X Factor winners - where are they now?
1 of 10Series 1: Steve Brookstein
From the dizzying heights of fame in late 2004, when Steve won the first ever UK edition of The X Factor, to the terrible lows just eight months later when record label Sony BMG dropped him. Then came a stint on a P&O cruise ferry (the Portsmouth to Bilbao crossing if you must know) followed by Steve’s discovery of Twitter, where he quickly found a semi-notoriety lambasting Simon Cowell, The X Factor, anyone involved in The X Factor… you get the gist.Oh, he did attempt to stage a comeback earlier this year with a crowd-sourced album, Forgotten Man, which, uh, well it failed to chart.
2 of 10Series 2: Shayne Ward
That’s My Goal, right? Everyone remembers That’s My Goal. “That’s myyyy gooooalll!” Right? Yeah, anyway, Shayne did pretty well on the back of his 2005 X Factor win, following up his debut self-titled album with a second AND third record. Sadly, Simon Cowell’s label SyCo Music dropped him in 2010, which could have spelled the end of his musical career – but no! Shayne landed himself a plum role in West End hit Rock Of Ages in 2011 and THEN got picked to appear on Dancing On Ice. Whatta guy.
3 of 10Series 3: Leona Lewis
Probably the most successful X Factor winner to date, Leona had a massive hit in 2007 with Bleeding Love, which went to No1 in the US and charted all around the world. She’s since made five albums, sold more than 20 million records, been nominated for three Grammys AND started acted in the musical Walking On Sunshine earlier this summer.
4 of 10Series 4: Leon Jackson
Incredibly, Leon won in 2007 against runner-up Rhydian Roberts, but his post-X Factor career flopped after his debut album and he got dropped by his record label shortly afterwards. But it was onwards and upwards for Leon, who grew himself a beard (and got even hotter) and started appearing in his own online web series Leon’s Life, which was – incredibly – broadcast on Bebo. And he got himself nominated for the Johnnie Walker Blue Label "Great" Awards in May 2011. So.
5 of 10Series 5: Alexandra Burke
With probably the longest name in X Factor history – her full moniker is Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke – Alexandra’s winner’s single Hallelujah sold 105,000 copies in a SINGLE DAY. Unfortunately it was then overtaken by her mentor Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love, but still. A stint as brand ambassador for Sure Women deodorant quickly followed, and until recently Alexandra was starring in the West End musical The Bodyguard.
6 of 10Series 6: Joe McElderry
Poor little Joe. His debut effort got beaten to the coveted Christmas top spot by an excellently well-orchestrated public campaign to get Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name to the No1. It worked, and for a while it looked like Joe might sink back to the depths of unknowndom. But no! Joe went on to star in AND win the second series of Popstar To Operastar, and got to perform for the Queen at the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. Jealous!
7 of 10Series 7: Matt Cardle
He may have won against One Direction – yes, One actual Direction – but Matt’s music career went a bit south after his victory in 2010. There was that brief showmance fling with Mel C… oh, and he had to go to rehab late last year to deal with his over-reliance on prescription pills. Poor man.
8 of 10Series 8: Little Mix
The artists formerly known as Rhythmix had to change their name before winning The X Factor after a desperate plea from a music charity who, tbf, had had its name for quite a while. Simon Cowell even stumped up £20k to give the charity as a peace offering. Anyway, Little Mix have done well for themselves, releasing two studio albums (DNA and Salute), AND bandmember Perrie Edwards got herself engaged to One Direction’s Zayn Malik.
9 of 10Series 10: Sam Bailey
It’s just yer classic prison-guard-to-national-household-name story, really. Sam won the ITV talent contest in December 2013 and, yes, got that Christmas No1 with Skyscraper. She and her husband Craig then conceived a child literally days later on New Year’s Eve and she found out she was pregnant by taking a test in an Asda loo. Sam gave birth to a baby girl just this month, so her recording and touring commitments have been put on hold for now.
10 of 10Series 9: James Arthur
James, James, James. Phoooo-eey. What can we say about this young man? Well, despite a promising start with his 2012 X Factor win, his bratty attitude and a string of media controversies (cracking onto a fan with the immortal line #showyourboobstojamesarthur; having sex with his socks on; recording a rap battle against Micky Worthless; sending fellow X Factor contestant Lucy Spraggan vaguely homophobic slurs… we could go on) meant his contract with SyCo was swiftly terminated. Like Brookstein, James has discovered the wonders of Twitter and has somehow attracted a modest following (of mostly non-UK fans, it has to be said). He even got his fans to come up with the artwork for his latest album, All The World’s A Stage – and he now has a chest tattoo of the same title. So that’s good, isn’t it.