COLOURFUL boy band Plastic are hoping to go all the way in the X Factor – but blue-haired Tom Davies' story began in Ashtead.
The former St Giles School pupil later moved to Leatherhead with his family before relocating to London to pursue his dreams of hitting the big-time as a performer.
He and his bandmates Sam Morris (purple hair) and Lulu Smith (pink hair) received four coveted "yes" votes from judges Gary Barlow, Nicole Sherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh in their first audition, to be put straight through to perform again at Wembley.
After they put their own spin on *N Sync's Pop in their first try-out – shown in last night's edition of ITV2 spin-off programme The Xtra Factor – Gary told the vibrant trio: "On paper, this is everything I usually hate, but it was great.
"You came out and brought it to us and showed us how much you want it."
Sharon added: "What you lose in voice, you make up for in camp."
Louis called Plastic's energetic effort "a great performance", saying: "It was colourful, it was really funny and it was good."
Meanwhile Nicole said simply: "Yes! I loved it."
Asked about meeting the famous judges, 22-year-old Mr Davies told the Advertiser: "It was really amazing to meet them. Obviously when you go in it's really exciting to see them there.
"People like Sharon Osbourne have been on TV for so many years obviously, so you feel like you know them but they don't know you. It's weird because you kind of feel like you're friends.
"They all loved it, but Nicole really loved it. She was calling us 'Schamazing' and all sorts.
"We were surprised that Gary Barlow liked it as much as he did, but Nicole was like 100 per cent in love with the whole thing.
"It all happened so quickly and then you're out and it's just like oh my god, what just happened?
"That room audition was very different to how it looks on the TV. It's very quiet. We sang completely acapella so it was a little daunting, because it's just you and them – it's pretty crazy.
"Obviously Wembley was equally scary but in a different way. You're just waiting backstage and you can hear the roar of 4,000 people which is just terrifying.
"That's scary but it's also quite comforting in a way because we've all been performing all our lives so we're used to being on stage."
The former Therfield pupil attended Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom from the age of five to 18 after school, along with his brother and sister. His family still live in Leatherhead.
He joined Plastic in 2011 after touring around the world in Matthew Bourne' Swan Lake.
Speaking about the band's decision to enter the X Factor process, Mr Davies said: "We have been writing our own music and stuff and it just felt like the right time. We thought about doing it last year but thought we weren't quite ready.
"We're so extroverted and colourful and very heavily dance-based so it's very hard for us to gig like a regular singer-songwriter would do. X factor is such an incredible music platform and we just want to get ourselves out there.
"We already have our fanbase – the Fantastics, they're so cute.
"We have quite a strong fanbase in Japan and obviously it's hard to get out there and see them at the moment so it's a great way for us to reach out to them."
