I didn't know how I felt last year when I learned a friend had entered me onto ITV's UK television talent show, Britain's Got Talent. So when I received the email I thought ABSOLUTELY no way. There were no two ways about it. The show had been running since 2007 and had lost its magnetic appeal and I felt I'd missed the boat with the reality TV phenomenon. I hadn't given it much thought until I received a call from the shows production team to confirm my attendance at the auditions in Glasgow's Clyde auditorium. I was so there. All of a sudden it seemed like the best idea ever. I mean why not? I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. It was a chance in a lifetime opportunity to perform to my biggest audience. So what if I got criticised and buzzed off? There was still a chance that my audition would be shown, and that's exposure money can't buy. And regardless of what you may think of him, anyone in the music industry wants the approval of Simon Cowell.
So I was more than prepared for that mandatory question they ask every contestant when I stepped onto the Britain's Got Talent stage. What's the dream? To hear one of my songs played in The Queen Vic and to have my own show at The Edinburgh Fringe.
I could have been laughed off the stage and humiliated in front of the nation for several reasons. Clearly not wearing any socks and singing a medley of children's nursery rhymes were just two of many. Without realising it, I had been in training for this moment since I started out as a professional performer and have been mastering my act ever since. All I could do in those vital three minutes was to give it everything I had.
If you saw the show you will know I did not go onto to win. Should I have sung a normal song? I don't think so, and it's what made my performance so memorable giving me the platform that launched my career and changed my life.
That's how I ended up with my own show at the Fringe. I was Dame Doris Dimple in Puss In Boots in Arbroath (and wouldn't have been if I never did the show) and it was the first three minutes of meeting the producer that she had decided she wanted to put together a show, with me as the star. So you see, you still need people to buy into you albeit for a slightly longer period of time than a short appearance on the telly. Even so we live in such a disposable society. People have short attention spans and too much choice but the reality shows are very cleverly edited, giving out short bursts, and bits of everything to stop people from switching over. My audition when it came to air, highlighted my personality, voice and humour the best way possible, thanks to the producers and editors and throughout that journey I felt a bit like the nation's sweetheart.
How will I achieve this for a whole hour during my Edinburgh Show? With the aid of a great creative team who know how to put together a successful show. They may both be talent contests of sorts but Britain's Got Talent and The Edinburgh Fringe are very different. The rest is down to me and I will once again give it my all.
Ok, the competition in Edinburgh with all the high profiled acts and experts who do it every year will be tougher than a dancing telecommunications engineer from Aberdeen, but that is the challenge I am looking forward to the most. The average audience number may turn out to be six but I need to maintain the same energy level that I would if I was facing the nation.
I'm still working towards Ricky and Bianca slow dancing to Humpty Dumpty in the Vic but this year I am, quite literally, living the dream.