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X Factor hopeful Shaz Paz from Deal feels used

Despite trending on Twitter, Deal’s X Factor hopeful Shaz Paz has said she feels used and deflated after her audition was aired to the nation last night.

After five years of trying to make it on to the show the body popping mum-of-two did.

But after watching it with her husband, Malcolm, for whom she is a full time carer to, she said she felt used.

Shaz Paz during her X Factor audition
Shaz Paz during her X Factor audition

Shaz, real name Sharon Stewart née Parry, said: “My first reaction was, ‘Oh my gosh, they’ve used me to make me look bad’.

“I was gutted. I feel deflated but on the upside I trended on Twitter.”

Shaz had received a call from the show’s producers on Friday to inform her that her audition would be shown on Sunday’s programme.

At the time the 43-year-old had told KentOnline she was excited.

She had said: “It still hasn’t sunk in. It’s one of these things that you think will never happen and now that it has, it still doesn’t feel real.”

Shaz sang Hideaway by Kiesza and forgot her words. She had wanted to sing Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror but had been asked not to.

She said: “I knew I was going to forget my words and that was bugging me.

“I stood singing and when I got to the second verse I forgot them and I knew it was do or die.”

In a bid to turn the audition around, Shaz resorted to dancing, something she is well known for.

The judges did not stop her - in fact she continued dancing until the end of the song while the Manchester audience chanted her name.

She said: “It was my dream to dance in front of a crowd like that. It was on my bucket list.”

The Thumbs Up Move
The Thumbs Up Move

She didn’t make it through to Bootcamp but she did receive yes votes from Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Nick Grimshaw.

However, this was not shown.

When asked what she would have liked them to show, Shaz said: “The two yes votes and the audience’s real reaction. I never said I was classically trained - Simon forced me into saying that.”

She added: “Cheryl was fascinated with my slide and found it entertaining and Grimmy loved the thumbs up move and again said it was entertaining.”

Shaz spent hours filming during the two day experience including an introduction, while queuing up, in the holding room as well as with presenters Caroline Flack and Olly Murs - who she got to dance with.

She also got to work with Xtra Factor presenters Rochelle Humes and Melvin Odoom.

She said: “I had Rochelle dancing in six inch heels and I had a dance with Melvin. It was just an amazing feeling. One you cannot find a word to describe it.”

Shaz Paz with one of her X Factor letters
Shaz Paz with one of her X Factor letters

Shaz, who went to Warden House Primary and Deal Secondary School, sang in Sholden Church Choir until the age of 18.

Dancing is her main love. She says Breakdance The Movie is responsible for her love of body popping.

She used to dance on lino on the green in Diana Gardens with her neighbours and even shared her moves when marshalling at the Olympic Torch Relay in Dover in 2012.

She said: “I didn’t know the crowd were watching, I just got carried away and kept on doing it.

“It just makes you feel good, especially if people are watching and when the crowd gets involved.”

To make it to the audition stage of the hit show Shaz had to make an impression at an initial audition held at Westwood Cross in Thanet. She was successful and was invited to Manchester on July 8.

She travelled alone on a coach for nine hours to make it there and stayed in a Travelodge.

She said: “I did it really for the people that sit at home that want to do it but are too scared to. I like to make people laugh as well.

“I would have liked it to have gone right but I just knew I didn’t know the song well enough and then the performer in me just came out.”

Shaz, who had previously said she would like to try out for Britain’s got Talent and return to X Factor for a 'serious audition', said: “I would be too weary now to do it.”

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