X FACTOR singer Nikki Stook has failed in her bid to become a pop star.

Newsquest Oxfordshire exhibitions co-ordinator Miss Stook was one of 12,500 people hoping to get noticed by judges Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne at a mass audition in Birmingham on Sunday.

But instead the 34-year-old was left disappointed by her experience.

Miss Stook said: "It's a big fix when you get there. Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne were not there. You have to go through three auditions and you don't get to meet them until the fourth."

She sang Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out for a Hero in front of 12 judges and the other 12,499 people auditioning - she was told she had a "good voice but unfortunately this time it was a no".

Miss Stook added: "You had to be absolutely fantastic or useless."