Thanks to Applause Store and a mix up at a Catchphrase filming a couple of weeks prior, Rebecca and I were able to get Priority tickets to Sunday nights X-Factor Final.

Venturing to London’s Zone 4, we stepped off the tube and eagerly walked to collect our tickets. Walking up to the arena, we saw Ben Haenow’s tour bus and managed to get a few photos. Following the crowd to the collection point, we were shocked at the snaking queues. Luckily however, the one word of “PRIORITY” on our passes meant that we were able to walk right up to the box office (I say box office, it was more of a caravan) and get our tickets. Success.

With our X Factor tickets in hand, we decided to find some food close by and stumbled upon a red carpet 360⁰C camera on the way. I had never seen these before and I loved that we each managed to get a print out as well as the GIF of the photo. Thanks TalkTalk!

We stumbled upon a Zizzis and tucked into some pizza. With bellies full, we decided to wander around the outlet mall. I had heard adverts for this outlet before so was quite intrigued as to what sorts of shops and deals there would be. I must say that I was a little disappointed in the size of some of the shops, and noticed that most of the discounts were not significant enough for me to think “Oh, I would come here again!”. Reb however did manage to get some good deals on tennis skirts from Nike at £5 each but I walked away from the mall with nothing and my wallet sighed quietly with relief.

Both myself and Reb found ourselves a little lost for things to do after this point. We had been in all the stores, had tummies full and so decided to walk over to the library to sit down and relax. It’s important to note that apart from Zizzis and being inside the shops themselves, there was no indoor area as the mall was designed as an arcade. On the way to the library, we found a Baskin and Robbins and with our 1 scoop of the flavour of the month, Chocolate mint, we found a seat on the stairs of the huge library. Not long after our second or third bite into the ice-cream, a voice shouted that the library was closing and we all needed to get out. People swarmed for the close by indoors Starbucks and so we were off outside yet again. We still had around 2 hours to kill, so we walked to the TGI Fridays and two seats were empty at the bar despite it being rammed full of people. Taking our seats at the bar, we perused the menu and selected two lethal looking cocktails. They were delightful. Time flew by as we watched the talented bar staff throw, shake and pour bottles of liquids into glasses of all shapes and sizes. It was finally time to take our seats at the arena.

Expecting a queue of some sort at our entrance, we casually walked in without any pushing or shoving and wandered in to find out seats. We could not quite believe our eyes- we were sat one level away from the stage right, and could even sneak a peak backstage at all the action. It was more than we could have ever asked for. We even spotted the couple who had been 1 behind us in the priority queue, and they were sat in a section further back. It seemed as though luck had just been on our side.

It was so interesting to watch all the behind the scenes action before the show started, and also during commercial breaks. Watching the crew run around, Simon Cowell’s car driving magically by itself, the make-up touch-ups to the judges (yes, even Louis and Simon were getting blotted and wiped!) as well as the host entertaining the audience as all the hustle and bustle took place on the stage and around us.

I think my video accurately shows off what a great night we had, and how pleased we were that Ben Haenow had won. Apart from the result itself, the highlight of my night had to be seeing Harry Styles (and the rest of One Direction) perform on stage! Apologies for my biases video recording of their performance, I think the camera clearly shows where I was focusing!

Thanks again to the Applause Store for hooking us up with tickets, we hope to be back again next year!

Until next time x

Useful links:

Applause Store (to ballot for free tickets to filming of TV episodes)
http://www.applausestore.com/home

SSE Arena, Wembley
http://www.ssearena.co.uk/

Zizzis Restaurant
http://www.zizzi.co.uk/

London Designer Outlet
http://www.london-designer-outlet.com/