Jonathan Ansell, star of Whistle Down the Wind, tells Laura Davis about his rocky road to fame

IF JONATHAN ANSELL were to have a mantra, it would surely be “every cloud has a silver lining”. For the former X-Factor contestant has a rare ability to find light in the darkest of places.

Bullied at school for being in the choir, he says the experience has made him more determined to succeed.

And he has the same positive attitude to his chronic stage fright, which used to leave him doubled up with nausea in the wings of the stage.

“Unfortunately, being in the choir wasn’t the coolest thing to do,” he says.

“The fact I sang like a girl until the age of 16, with an unbroken voice, meant I was easily picked on and it tarnished my secondary school life.

“But I don’t want to look on it as a massive negative because what it’s given me as a 27-year-old man is a lot of things to draw on when I need different emotions in a performance.

“And, although it really upset me at the time, it’s made me more focused on what I want.”

Although he is best known for coming second in the TV singing contest X-Factor, with “popera” group G4, Ansell’s first role was in a musical.

Playing Joseph at primary school hooked him on performing in front of an audience, and he will take to the Empire stage next week as the mysterious The Man in Bill Kenwright’s touring production of Whistle Down the Wind.

This time he will not be struggling to control his nausea, as he has learned to control his nerves, but for many years he suffered badly.

“I used to have physical panic attacks and I’d be freaking out,” he reveals in a break from rehearsals.

“I’d have nightmares that I was falling. I’d wake up and I’d still think I was upside down and I’d have to go and see my parents and they’d calm me down.

“I’d be semi-sleep walking in this weird state before every show and I remember being in London with a choir I was in and I was so nervous I was physically sick all the way until I got up on stage.”

He now manages to suppress the worst of them, but adds: “I think if you’re not nervous at all, you’re in the wrong job.”

There was more than stage fright to tackle when G4 found themselves in the final stages of X-Factor in 2004.

Ansell and his fellow band members had to cope with sudden fame, as well as the restrictions placed on them by the TV programme’s production crew. “There were times I was in complete despair,” he admits.

“I couldn’t quite rationalise what was happening. You’re just going along this rollercoaster and you don’t completely understand it at first.

“You’re going through the audition process and you feel vaguely comfortable and then you have a camera thrust in your face and you’re like, ‘what do I do with this?’.

“ Then you gradually come to terms with that but once the live shows kick off you get into a bit of a blind panic and it’s hard to control that.