FOR most 17-year-old-girls from Middlesbrough, the idea of music superstar Kelly Rowland eating a parmo in your kitchen while chatting to your parents would be the result of a particularly odd dream.
For Amelia Lily Oliver, it was the latest sign that her life will never be the same again.
The Middlesbrough teenager swept into her home town yesterday for a day of interviews and concerts to drum up support before the weekend’s X Factor final.
Her day started with a police escort to her former school, Teesside High in Eaglescliffe, near Yarm, at 8.30am.
Later, she met her mentor, singer Kelly Rowland, at Gisborough Hall, near Guisborough, before the pair paid a visit to Amelia’s home in nearby Nunthorpe, where a crowd of adoring fans had gathered.
“Me and Kelly pulled up and there were loads of people there for me,” said Amelia. “It was incredible to see Kelly Rowland in my house.”
Rowland had earlier told her 2.3 million followers on Twitter: “Middlesborough!
Everyone is telling me to go get PARMO... What is it?”
At the Oliver residence, she was given a taste of Teesside’s favourite takeaway – and it went down a treat.
“She had a chicken parmo in the kitchen,” Amelia said. “She said she loved it.”
Equally excited by Rowland’s visit to the family home was Amelia’s father, Barry Oliver, who said: “What an amazing experience to have Kelly Rowland in the kitchen.”
Yesterday’s main event was a concert in front of 1,000 fans at the Empire, in Middlesbrough.
Tickets were snapped up in less than 30 minutes when they were released on Monday.
Vicky Smith, 23, from Middlesbrough, who queued up for three hours to get a ticket, said last night: “I saw Amelia at the Darlington Spooky Spectacular and she was great. I think she’s better live.
“I’ve been voting for her every week. I think she will win on Saturday.
She’s got the best voice out of the lot.”
Fans waited for about two hours in the bitter cold before Amelia arrived with Kelly at 8.45pm – both wearing Boro scarves.
Inside the Empire, the enthusiastic crowd, which included Middlesbrough footballers Joe Bennet, Tony McMahon, Rhys Williams and Seb Hines, chanted her name.
After being introduced by Kelly, Amelia stormed onto the stage wearing a pink-trimmed silver sequin dress and performed a 15- minute set of three songs – You and I by Lady Gaga, Since You’ve Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson and China in Your Hand by T’Pau.
Kelly later Tweeted: “Middlesbrough crowd is amazing!! Thank you to all the people who showed their love for Amelia Lily.”
Earlier in the evening, Amelia said she had experienced a “rollercoaster”
journey in the past few months. She was initially put through to the live shows stage of the competition but failed to make the second round.
The teenager then won a public vote to be reinstated on the show after another contestant dropped out.
Amelia said: “I was sad to leave the competition initially but I came back with confidence. I had grown up. I’d love to win, but at the same time my ambition was to get to the final.”
On Tuesday it emerged that an error by HMV had led to its website offering fans the chance to preorder the Amelia Lily X Factor 2011 Winner’s Single, however no products were available for the other finalists, Little Mix and Marcus Collins, sparking rumours of a fix.
Amelia said: “I was absolutely devastated. It’s not a fix – I still need votes. I need all the help I can get.”
One of the stranger aspects of her new found fame was having an image of her face made into a Hamelia and Pineapple Lily pizza, above left, by national fast food firm Just Eat. The company has made pizzas themed on all three of the X Factor finalists.
Amelia is second favourite to win, behind Little Mix, two of whom are from South Shields, South Tyneside.
• A CHICKEN Parmo is a flattened chicken fillet, coated in breadcrumbs, topped with bechamel sauce and cheddar cheese. It was established as a “Chicken Parmesan” (as it originally used Parmesan cheese) more than 40 years ago at a busy Middlesbrough takeaway.
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