"Hey"

A bloody lucky friend of mine managed, after 3 years on the waiting list, to get tickets to the X Factor results show last sunday night, and the lovely lady invited me along. The tickets didn't guarantee us entry, but after nearly four very cold hours queueing outside we finally - whilst almost hyperventilating with excitement, I might add - were let into the studio.

For some strange reason, despite being in probably the last ten or twenty people let in, we managed to get amazing seats! We were sat on the front row of the blocks behind the judges and behind those smaller blocks in front of the stage. My friend, the ticket-finder, ended up in a faboulous seat by the stage... next to Sinita (who was Twittering all night and at one point turned to my friend and said "I love Dannii's hair." to which my friend replied, "No, I love Cheryl's dress...") and behind choreographer Brian Friedman (who, when Jedward got through, blurted out "Fucking Louis Walsh!") The studio is a lot smaller than it appears on TV but the whole thing was VERY cool. And who am I kidding, I was just excited to be that close to the judges - only about 20ft away; Yes. I was that close to Cheryl.

For those who by some wierd turn of events do not know how utterly obsessed I am with Cheryl Cole... well. I'll be brief. One day myself and Cheryl will be married. She just got the wrong Ashley the first time round (Yeah, it's that bad). More on that later... it gets more exciting.

Overall the show was definitely the best live show I've even been to. This week's guest - on the streamed show - was Shakira, but in fact her performance had been pre-recorded the week before. Instead we saw Mariah Carey pre-record her performance for next week, which was, of course, amazing! My favourite moment was when she was patiently waiting on stage for everything to be set up, and said, in a scarily accurate London accent: "I'll jus' wing it." That's not it. As you will know if you watched the show, the contestants performed their group performance of Bohemian Rhapsody live with Brian May and Roger Taylor from Queen. Sensational. Absolutely sensational. I'd seen Roger arrive earlier while we were in the queue, Brian May instead choosing to be driven onto the premises before leaving his car (a shame, because everyone was very excited to see him).

Jamie went, and rightly so (yes, yes, I know Jedward and Lloyd are both worse, but even so he was never going to win it - sorry Grandma). I screamed very loudly for Stacey and gave her a slightly cheesy thumbs-up when she passed by us later. I booed as loudly as I could at Jedward. Louis Walsh walked right past me before the sing-off and did some strange, fruity peace-sign dance, to which I pulled my best "Really? Really?!" face, and made sure he saw it. Fool.

Then.... THEN! In the first commercial break of The Xtra Factor, the judges, having always walked out to the right of their seats, this time exited to the left, directly in front of me. I seized my chance and held my hand out to Cheryl, who held it, smiled at me and said "Hey". Looking back I really wish I had said something. But in that moment, words failed me. I probably looked like a crazed fan, which admittedly I am.... but I could have at least added some credibility to it. But no, crazed fan was all that I could manage. And who cares? Cheryl Cole, the woman I love (yeah, yeah), held my hand and said "Hey."

Brilliant.