From BGT to Strictly... to Eurovision? There’s a Molly good chance!
STRICTLY star Molly Rainford is being lined up to represent the UK in next year’s Eurovision song contest.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that discussions are being held for her to be selected for the event which will take place in Liverpool next May, ten years after she turned down a record deal with Simon Cowell.
Ms Rainford, who will perform tonight in the Strictly semi-finals, is keen to launch herself as a pop star after playing a singer in the popular CBBC comedy-adventure series Nova Jones.
A source close to the Eurovision team involved in selecting the British candidate said: ‘Molly has all of the attributes to be a great act for the UK. She has a fantastic voice and she has a huge fan base.
‘She is a real performer and has worked her way into the showbusiness industry through hard graft. She is the epitome of what the UK candidate should be. It’s very exciting.
‘She has won massive new support by taking part on Strictly so hopefully the nation will be behind her.’
Ms Rainford, 22, was saved by the judges last Sunday after she found
‘She has a fantastic voice and a huge fan base’
herself in the bottom two with actress Kym Marsh. Tonight she will dance twice with her professional partner Carlos Gu as she fights for a place in the final against Hamza Yassin, Helen Skelton, Fleur East and Will Mellor.
It will be the second time that she has been in a semi-final of a television reality show. In 2012 she appeared on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent where she sang Ave Maria, prompting much interest from Cowell who wanted to sign her to his label.
However, her mother Sarah refused the offer because she didn’t want her to be a ‘one-hit wonder’.
‘We wanted Molly to have some longevity in her career,’ she told The Mail on Sunday.
‘We thought it wouldn’t last long so we wanted her to hold off and learn the business first.’
Ms Rainford then joined the Sylvia Young Theatre School after Cowell and her manager Jonathan Shalit agreed to fund a place there so she could learn her trade.
And our exclusive picture of the young starlet shows just why she was destined for fame.
Mum Sarah added: ‘She was always singing and dancing since she was a little girl, we are so proud of her.’
Meanwhile, fellow semi-finalist Will Mellor, 46, has revealed he has lost a stone since he began training for Strictly in September – despite him saying his body is telling him it’s too old to dance every week.
He said: ‘I have a routine every Sunday. I sit on the couch, I have my legs in the air, then I get my wife’s foot spa out and I put my feet in there, not with hot water but I put ice in there as my feet are killing me from the Latin shoes.
‘They are like elements of torture. Dance in them for three days but I’m fitter now than I have been in 20 years, I’ve lost about a stone in weight.
‘My watch doesn’t even fit me any more – if you’re losing weight off your wrists you’re working hard.’