Stardom beckons for I’d Do Anything runner-up Jessie
For the disappointment of coming second in Saturday’s cliffhanger final of BBC’s I’d Do Anything contest has only made the musical-mad 18-year-old more determined to carve out a career on the stage.
Millions of viewers across Britain and Ireland watched Jessie battle it out with her last two surviving rivals out of some 10,000 hopefuls who initially auditioned for the show. But despite attracting rave reviews from a judging panel, that included industry supremos Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, she lost out on the public phone-in vote to 28-year-old Jodie Prenger from Blackpool.
After living and breathing the show for the last three months, Jessie’s reaction was understandably tearful, but her proud mum said yesterday the experience had not dented her appetite for the business.
“There are much bigger and better things ahead for Jessie,” said mum, Marina Cassidy. “I think the feeling all around the BBC last night was that Jessie’s talent really shone.
“Of course she is disappointed but her talent and star quality was acknowledged by the kings of musical theatre. So with that knowledge I just said to her: Jessie, I really think the world will be at your feet.”
Marina and the rest of Jessie’s family, her dad Tim, and her three sisters and brother, were in London for the final but they wished they could have brought all of Killarney with them as Irish viewers could not take part in the phone-in vote.
While Jessie consistently got the best reviews, Jodie Prenger had already established herself as people’s favourite following a previous TV contest in which she publicly won the battle of the bulge, losing eight stone.
Jessie was back to business yesterday, with numerous meetings scheduled before she gets a well-earned rest. “She needs a break but I think it will be back to London before long, because this is where she wants to be and needs to be for her career,” said her mother.
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