Nigar Jamal confesses to "The Sun": I wanted to do X-Factor instead of Eurovision

EUROVISION winner Nikki Jamal (Nigar Jamal) nearly didn't enter the contest, - because she wanted to be on The X Factor instead. But the 30-year-old Azerbaijan beauty narrowly missed the ITV1 show's deadline.

"I thought I was so unlucky," said North London-based mum-of-two Nikki - pictured with her husband Haluk and five-year-old daughter Jasmin. "I love The X Factor. I wanted to enter it and win so badly."

But then, while visiting her parents in Azerbaijan, she was persuaded to compete in the Eurovision heats with 21-year-old Eldar Gasimov.

Now she is mobbed as a celebrity in the former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea, after they won the contest with their song Running Scared in front of 150 million viewers worldwide.

One thousand people turned up at an airport to welcome them home.

Nikki said: "Maybe it was fate that I missed out on The X Factor. But I love Simon Cowell. He always tells the truth. That's what I like about him. And Cheryl Cole is my favourite singer. I'd love to be like her."

"A few months ago I was a housewife - now I'm the winner of Eurovision. It is my biggest dream. But I don't feel like a superstar or anything special."


/The Sun/