Nicole’s very nice but there’s only one X Factor doll for me
Nicole Scherzinger gave him her number – but Ryan Lawrie insists that even the former Pussycat Doll couldn’t turn his head from X Factor sweetheart Emily Middlemas.
Ryan was axed from the telly talent contest last weekend but the blow was softened when judge Nicole handed over her contact info.
Asked how he’d react if she asked him out, it’s clear Ryan only has eyes for his Glaswegian girlfriend.
He said: “Nicole’s a nice- looking woman but definitely not for me. I’m happy with Emily. Nicole was cool. Before I left, she gave me her number and she was like, ‘ If you ever need anything, please don’t be afraid to give me a call.’
“I wasn’t expecting her to spend the amount of time that she did with us. She’d get us into her dressing room before the show to ask us how we were feeling. She’d really make you feel up for it.
“I’m happy I got Nicole as a mentor and she’s a really nice person as well. She’s been chatting on WhatsApp, saying ‘Good luck for the future’.”
Ryan, 20, from Coatbridge, controversially lost out in last weekend’s X Factor sing-off to rapper Honey G.
He’s hopeful his sixth place finish can help catapult him to a career in the music industry and has been signed up for the X Factor Live Tour 2017.
Now he hopes Emily can go on and win the show.
Ryan said: “We always had a conversation about, ‘Imagine it was me and you standing there waiting to get our names called to find out who had won.’
“We basically said to each other that we wouldn’t care who came first or second. It wouldn’t make a difference. I’m happy just to have come sixth.
“Emily’s confident but I feel she’s missing home. Obviously, I’m not there now and I feel like the pressure’s kicking in.
“I think me being in meant we took a lot of the stress off each other. We’d have
chats if anything was upsetting each other and I think not being able to do that face-to-face is going to be hard. “Hopefully she can really push for it.” Ryan and Emily have been dating for a year and didn’t let on to X Factor bosses or other contestants that they were an item when they auditioned. The pair even had to deny claims they were having sex in the X Factor house.
Ryan insists there was no chance of intimacy, even on days off. He said: “Definitely not. The day off was a few hours and we’d be back for six o’clock.
“There were rules set. Emily and I weren’t allowed to share a room but we were fine with that because we were happy to be professional.
“All the girls had their own room and all the boys had their own room so I feel like that was good because if we had shared a room we probably wouldn’t have socialised with anyone else.
“I did get some time to spend with Emily watching the telly – she would cuddle up like any other person would do in a relationship.
“You wouldn’t want to be doing that 24/7 in front of the contestants so we tried to be chilled about it. On our days off, which was usually a Thursday, we’d go out for a meal or do our own thing.
“So it’s been a long time but it’s about being professional. I’ve only got to wait three weeks if she makes the final.
“I was telling her that after the show we’ll have time and we want to go on holiday and stuff. We’re looking forward to spending Christmas with each other.”
Ryan – who lives with his parents – says marriage isn’t on the horizon yet but he and Emily, 18, have discussed moving in together next year.
He said: “I wouldn’t be with her if I didn’t think it was going to last. Both of us want this. I wouldn’t say we’re going to get married any time soon but it’s something I would want to happen.”
Living with Emi ly in the X Factor house meant Ryan got to know her her foibles.
He said: “I always say Emily had the worst habit in the house because she always eats tuna.
“She would stock up on hundreds of tins. I don’t mind tuna but not for breakfast. We had a chef in the house but sometimes Emily would go and grab a tin of tuna instead.”
Ryan believes The X Factor revived his dreams just as he was about to start in a call centre.
He said: “There have been times when people have said ‘It’s time to knuckle down, get a job and join the real world’.
“Just before The X Factor, I applied for a job and I got it, then I got a call saying I had made it to Boot Camp.”
He can’t wait to join The X Factor Live Tour, which will hit Aberdeen’s AECC on February 28 and Braehead Arena, near Glasgow, on March 1 and 2.
Ryan said: “It’s one of the things I’ve dreamt of doing. To say ‘ I’ve played arenas all over the UK’ is going to be brilliant. “I’ve been to the Braehead Arena a few times. Now I’ll be up on stage instead of in the crowd. It’s a massive platform for me to show I can perform.”