Yorkshire Britain's Got Talent star Stacey Leadbeatter has two reasons to celebrate after her Golden Buzzer triumph.
The 29 year old supermarket worker impressed both the live audience and the ITV show panel with her rendition of 'Run', originally by Snow Patrol. Off-screen, she has become engaged to her childhood friend Richard. With the audience practically demanding a Britain's Got Talent judge press the Golden Buzzer for her, KSI was the one to do the honours.
His actions rewarded the West Yorkshire mum-of-one, taking her straight through to the semi-finals. On Monday's Lorraine show, the singing sensation - who has been sharing her vocal talents since the age of five - expressed how "overwhelmed" she felt after advancing to the next round.
She continued to discuss her performance at a gig in front of 50 people and karaoke in a pub as her only live singing experience. Stacey didn't reveal much, but promised that the song she has planned for the next stage is "bigger and better."
However, when host Lorraine Kelly asked how that was possible, Stacey, who was joined by her mum Susan, remained tight-lipped. She insisted: "All I am going to say is I'm going to go bigger and better."
Discussing where she watched Saturday's episode, she said: "I was at home with my fiancé." As a picture of the couple appeared on-screen, Lorraine interjected: "Of course, because you've just got engaged. Double congratulations, that's fantastic. It's all happening isn't it?".
Speaking about her engagement to childhood friend Richard, Stacey said: "Everything happened at once, it was so surreal." She described the experience as feeling like an out-of-body moment.
Stacey, who lives in the Batley and Birstall area, wrote a message of thanks to her fans on Facebook following her appearance on Lorraine. She posted on Monday morning: "Thank you to those who tuned into this mornings Lorraine to show your support.
"And a massive thank you to Lorraine and the team for inviting me on the show. Now it’s time for a meeting about some important choices."
'Left panel in awe'
During her impressive performance on Britain's Got Talent this weekend, Stacey, who works in a supermarket roasting chickens, left the entire panel in awe. Simon Cowell praised her for having "nailed it", before KSI hit the Golden Buzzer.
This prompted hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly to rush onto the stage in celebration. The Sun had previously revealed that YouTube star KSI would be judging BGT contestants during the auditions.
The internet sensation expressed his excitement about joining the popular show. He said: "I'm so excited to be a guest judge for BGT."
He added, "When I got the call up, I couldn't believe it. I remember watching old BGT episodes and going from being amazed to laughing my a*** off."
He also mentioned his eagerness to see all the new talent and promised to leave a mark.
Health condition
In other news, Stacey recently disclosed her health condition. She revealed that she had to retrain her voice due to a speech impediment.
She confessed that it had been an "extremely hard" journey to regain her voice. She said: "I have a video of me singing from four or five years ago and you couldn't actually understand properly what I was singing due to the severity of speech impediments."
She further explained how she used adult speech therapy sessions on YouTube during lockdown to improve her singing.
Stacey revealed that she must regularly perform exercises several times a week to avoid reverting back to her previous condition. She also confessed that she was subjected to bullying at school due to her speech difficulties.
