Stacey Solomon

Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon (' Solomon'''; born 4 October 1989) is an English television personality and singer. She was a contestant on the sixth series of the ITV singing competition show The X Factor in 2009, which she finished in third place. The following year, Solomon appeared on the tenth series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! which she won.

Solomon's debut single, a cover of "Driving Home for Christmas", was released in 2011, and her debut studio album, Shy, was released in 2015. In 2016, Solomon began appearing as a panellist on the ITV talk show Loose Women, and presented I'm a Celebrity: Extra Camp, an ITV2 spin-off from the main show. In 2019, she was a regular panellist on the ITV2 comedy panel show Celebrity Juice.

Early life
Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon was born in Dagenham, London, on 4 October 1989, the daughter of Fiona, a nurse and David Neal Solomon, a photographer. Her mother was born into an Anglican family and was the daughter of a vicar, but converted to Judaism before marrying Solomon's father, who is of Iraqi-Jewish and Polish-Jewish descent. Her parents divorced when she was nine.

Solomon has said of her Jewish background, "Growing up, the influence Judaism had on me was an overwhelming understanding to love those around you, care for others as if they are part of your family and strive to be the best individual you can be." She attended a Christian primary school, where she said she "felt included and no different to [her] peers", but later studied at the Jewish King Solomon High School in Barkingside.

Music
In 2009, Solomon auditioned for the sixth series of The X Factor, performing "What a Wonderful World". Solomon was among the top 12 contestants and advanced to the live shows and was mentored by Dannii Minogue. During the first week of the live shows she performed Coldplay's "The Scientist", which gained positive reviews from the judges.

During week two, Solomon performed "At Last", receiving the most public votes. She sang "When You Wish Upon a Star" during the third week. On the fourth week, all contestants had to sing rock songs; Minogue selected "Somewhere Only We Know", and Solomon's performance resulted in positive reviews. On the fifth week, she sang "Son of a Preacher Man". The sixth week into the competition, Solomon sang Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever".

During the sixth week, she and her fellow X Factor finalists released a cover of Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone", which topped the charts on the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart. On the seventh week, she performed "I Can't Make You Love Me". In the quarter-final, Solomon performed "Rule the World" by Take That and "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John. In the semi-final she performed another Michael Jackson song, "The Way You Make Me Feel", and the song "Somewhere" for which she received a standing ovation by the judges.

During the final week, Solomon performed a duet "Feeling Good" with Michael Bublé. She also performed "What a Wonderful World" and "Who Wants to Live Forever". Solomon was awarded third place in the competition, behind Joe McElderry and Olly Murs.

Solomon went on tour with her fellow X Factor finalists. In December 2010, she returned to the show, where she presented the show from Essex for winner, Matt Cardle.

In June 2011, Solomon began working on her debut album, due to be released in 2012. Her first single from the album was originally to be released in February, but was delayed. On 5 November 2011, Solomon performed to thousands as the headline act at Paisley's Christmas Lights Switch On event. In September 2011, it was reported that Solomon was in a bidding war between record labels. However, she stated that she will have complete control. She was also asked to join The Only Way Is Essex, but turned it down.

On 18 December 2011, Solomon released a cover of Chris Rea's "Driving Home for Christmas" as her Christmas single. The single was used for the Iceland Christmas commercial and reached number 27 in the UK Singles Chart.

On 29 November 2013, Solomon was announced as the headline artist to lead a choir of over 110,000 primary school children. She joined the Young Voices tour, which took place from 14 January to 5 February 2014 in Birmingham, Sheffield, London and Manchester. The singer performed tracks from her forthcoming debut album on the tour, scheduled for release in 2014. Her debut album "Shy" was released in April 2015 along with the title track "Shy". In 2016, she released her second single from the album, "My Big Mistake".

Solomon returned to the fourteenth series of The X Factor UK on Saturday 2 December 2017 and Sunday 3 December 2017, co-presenting alongside George Shelley. She interviewed the fourteenth series' finalists parents, families, relatives and friends at the live finals from ExCeL London. She returned in the same position the following year.

Solomon has had fashion collaborations with Irish fast fashion brand Primark, including a children's range which she marketed with her children. She paired up with Amazon in 2020.

Television
Solomon took part in the tenth series of the reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! She beat Shaun Ryder in the final and was crowned "Queen of the Jungle".

In 2011, she became the face of supermarket Iceland, taking over from Coleen Nolan.

Solomon performed a duet with Ryder at the 16th National Television Awards – "Feeling Good" and "Step On" by Happy Mondays.

In October 2010, she won the Living TV show Party Wars. In April 2011, Solomon and Keith Lemon presented Sing If You Can.

From 11 March 2012, Solomon and Chris Moyles presented Sky Living's dating show The Love Machine. In Spring 2012, Solomon starred in an episode of Mad Mad World on ITV with Eamonn Holmes and Stephen K. Amos. From 5 September 2012, Solomon was part of the judging panel for ITV2's Top Dog Model.

In May 2014, Solomon recorded the theme tune for Channel 5's children's show Pip Ahoy!. She also has a recurring role in the show, voicing Fuchsia the Flamingo.

From February 2015, Solomon took part in the second series of The Jump and was eliminated on 4 February.

Throughout Summer 2016, Solomon appeared several times as a guest panellist on ITV daytime show Loose Women. It was later announced she would become a regular panellist alongside Lisa Riley after Vicky Pattison and Jamelia left the show.

On 22 September 2016, it was announced Solomon would take over from Laura Whitmore and become co-host of newly named I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! spin-off ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Extra Camp'' alongside Vicky Pattison, Joe Swash and Chris Ramsey. She did not return for the following series.

On a celebrity special of The Chase aired on 30 October 2016, Solomon won £60,000 in her individual chase, opposing Anne Hegerty (The Governess).

On 25 June 2017, Solomon appeared as a guest on ITV2's Love Island: Aftersun, a chat-show companion to Love Island. She also took part in a celebrity edition of The Crystal Maze on Channel 4.

In January 2018 she participated in And They're Off! in aid of Sport Relief. Stacey also launched a clothing range with Primark on 11 October 2018.

In February 2019 on an episode of Loose Women, Solomon announced she would become a regular panellist for ITV2's Celebrity Juice, hosted by Keith Lemon.

On 10 March 2021, Solomon announced on Instagram that the BBC had commissioned home-decluttering series Sort Your Life Out, with her presenting. A second series of the programme started on 25 January 2023.

On 24 May 2022, Solomon was introduced as co-host for Bake Off: The Professionals, replacing comedian Tom Allen.

On 15 December 2022, Solomon presented the festive craft show Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas. The show returned for a second episode in December 2023.

Personal life
Solomon had her first son, Zachary, in 2008 at age 18, with her then-boyfriend Dean Cox. Her second son, Leighton, born in 2012, was fathered by her ex-fiancé Aaron Barnham.

Solomon began dating television personality Joe Swash in 2016 after they met during the tenth series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2010. They have a son together, Rex, born in May 2019. On 4 October 2021, her 32nd birthday, she announced that she had given birth to a daughter, Rose, that day.

She announced her engagement to Swash on her Instagram page on 24 December 2020. Solomon and Swash were married at their home on 24 July 2022. She is also the stepmother of Swash's son from a previous relationship.

On 28 December 2022, Solomon announced she was 8 months pregnant with her fifth child and third with Swash. In February 2023, she gave birth to their second daughter, Belle.

Solomon has been open about dealing with anxiety.