The lovely Liz McClarnon has been off our radar since she took a break from the music world to concentrate on her other loves in life; cookery, shopping and playing some fabulous new Disney Interactive games.
But now she's back and ready to step into the limelight once more. Here she talks to FemaleFirst about her MasterChef win, her love of High School Musical and speaks her mind about former Atomic Kitten band mate, Kerry Katona.
Before we can say a word, Liz apologises for being late! bless her...
Hi Laura, I'm so sorry for being late!
It's fine, Hi Liz how are you?
Well, I'm ok I just got tax for my car and I got a bit wrapped up in whole thing!
Righty, what have you been up to recently?
Oh my goodness Where do I start?!, It's in the paper today that I've been touring the country with Disney to promote the High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! and Disney Sing It!: High School Musical 3: Senior Year, among other games for Christmas. It's just loads of fun! There's pictures of me just shaking around with this game and the Wii controller. The feel of the whole tour is that it's just been really really good fun and We were in Birmingham on Saturday and it was absolutely jam packed, I didn't even get to play on the games and I really wanted to!
Tell me all about your win on Celebrity Masterchef...
Erm, it was phenomenal. I mean I think not only did I win the award for Celebrity Masterchef, I also won the award for the most 'Oh My Gods' in one minute! Literally, I watch it back and all I'm thinking is 'shut up!' It was an amazing experience, and even when we were in the Ministry of Defence place and the bombs were going off, it didn't sound that loud, but it was so bad when we were there. The boys were brilliant to me as well, I'm really good friends with Andy now and I see Mark because we've got a lot of mutual friends, strangely after the show though, and I think I might be having him round in a couple of days for dinner with his missus.
What is your signature dish?
Ooo, bit of lobster thermidor I say, it's dead quick to make too. It's just nice lobster in a cheese sauce, yummy!
So is this a new career direction for you know?
Well, it's a career add-on, rather than a change because I've just got a new record deal, but we haven't signed it yet, but we're in the throws of working for it still. Basically I've got an agreement that I've got to work towards this album and I've got to sort out the album and they want it ready asap, so while we're getting the deal ready, we're getting the album ready too. It takes ages to do the record deals too! But as well, I'm doing this for Disney, which finishes soon in Sheffield and it's been really really good fun and I've been doing a lot of other things. You know, I've got a signature dish for Pizza Hut coming in January, I've been offered so many..er, well people have been creating TV shows for me, which is so exciting and I'm really honoured, you know? I'm like 'What, little old me? you want me?!' And on top of all that, I've got two books coming out too, so brilliant!
What's the new sound of the album going to be?
It's still going to be pop, you know I can't get away from it and I wouldn't want to be anything else either. Pop is coming back into fashion anyway and I was listening to the top 10 the other day and apart from The Killers, everything else was pop.
Tell me all about the new High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! and Disney Sing It! and High School Musical 3: Senior Year games that you're promoting...
Well basically first of all I love High School Musical and me and my brother went to the premiere the other week, you know the new one and we had a great time. Everyone was like 'have you brought your little cousin with you?' and I had to act all coy and say 'Oh yeah, she's around here somewhere...' Me and my brother, we like love the whole thing, we're obsessed with it, because we like High School Musical and that it's light hearted and fun and I think if you watch a film and get involved with the games and things and you want to be taken out of the real world and especially now because the real world is so hard at the minute as well. So we're playing the games already, and will be on Christmas day too- we're going to force our mum into playing!
Who is it aimed at, a High School Musical fan perhaps?!
Well, obviously of course! Because you're singing all the songs, and at first I was like 'I don't know the words' but it doesn't matter, you have fun! You would think though that it's just aimed at fans of High School Musical, and people that are young but it's not, it's for all the family. The other day I was doing a dance with a little kid and I got totally beaten by this little kid! And also the Disney quiz game, I started yelling at the TV because I got that competitive! I was worried about the quiz you know, having to know loads about Disney but it's just common sense!
Do you miss the days of Atomic Kitten and is there any chance of a reform?
Well, yes I do miss it, only because it was completely fabulous, but no there's no chance of a reform. Everyone has other stuff going on and I'm chokka too, plus you know they've got bars and restaurants to run.
Do you still keep in touch with the girls, and Kerry of course?
Oh yes, course I do.
What do you think of the media and Kerry's relationship at the minute?
Well, I don't speak to her about that. I speak to her when I see her, and when we bump into each other at things and we just keep it light hearted. You know she looks fine, she's laughing and joking and when I saw her at the MTV awards there were loads of big stories about her being drunk and dancing around tables in a silly fashion, see I was talking to her and she had one drink and went home. It was just like, where did they get that from? someone had just gone and made it up. Because she gets attacked so much, she doesn't even protest anymore- she just goes, 'oh well' and it's sad, you know?
With that in mind, would you ever go on I'm a Celebrity like Kerry and Jenny did?
I get asked every year and I say no, and then they say lots of money and I still say no!
Thanks for speaking to me Liz, good luck with everything!
No, No thank you! Byeeeeee!
FemaleFirst- Laura Terry
The lovely Liz McClarnon has been off our radar since she took a break from the music world to concentrate on her other loves in life; cookery, shopping and playing some fabulous new Disney Interactive games.
But now she's back and ready to step into the limelight once more. Here she talks to FemaleFirst about her MasterChef win, her love of High School Musical and speaks her mind about former Atomic Kitten band mate, Kerry Katona.
Before we can say a word, Liz apologises for being late! bless her...
Hi Laura, I'm so sorry for being late!
It's fine, Hi Liz how are you?
Well, I'm ok I just got tax for my car and I got a bit wrapped up in whole thing!
Righty, what have you been up to recently?
Oh my goodness Where do I start?!, It's in the paper today that I've been touring the country with Disney to promote the High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! and Disney Sing It!: High School Musical 3: Senior Year, among other games for Christmas. It's just loads of fun! There's pictures of me just shaking around with this game and the Wii controller. The feel of the whole tour is that it's just been really really good fun and We were in Birmingham on Saturday and it was absolutely jam packed, I didn't even get to play on the games and I really wanted to!
Tell me all about your win on Celebrity Masterchef...
Erm, it was phenomenal. I mean I think not only did I win the award for Celebrity Masterchef, I also won the award for the most 'Oh My Gods' in one minute! Literally, I watch it back and all I'm thinking is 'shut up!' It was an amazing experience, and even when we were in the Ministry of Defence place and the bombs were going off, it didn't sound that loud, but it was so bad when we were there. The boys were brilliant to me as well, I'm really good friends with Andy now and I see Mark because we've got a lot of mutual friends, strangely after the show though, and I think I might be having him round in a couple of days for dinner with his missus.
What is your signature dish?
Ooo, bit of lobster thermidor I say, it's dead quick to make too. It's just nice lobster in a cheese sauce, yummy!
So is this a new career direction for you know?
Well, it's a career add-on, rather than a change because I've just got a new record deal, but we haven't signed it yet, but we're in the throws of working for it still. Basically I've got an agreement that I've got to work towards this album and I've got to sort out the album and they want it ready asap, so while we're getting the deal ready, we're getting the album ready too. It takes ages to do the record deals too! But as well, I'm doing this for Disney, which finishes soon in Sheffield and it's been really really good fun and I've been doing a lot of other things. You know, I've got a signature dish for Pizza Hut coming in January, I've been offered so many..er, well people have been creating TV shows for me, which is so exciting and I'm really honoured, you know? I'm like 'What, little old me? you want me?!' And on top of all that, I've got two books coming out too, so brilliant!
What's the new sound of the album going to be?
It's still going to be pop, you know I can't get away from it and I wouldn't want to be anything else either. Pop is coming back into fashion anyway and I was listening to the top 10 the other day and apart from The Killers, everything else was pop.
Tell me all about the new High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE! and Disney Sing It! and High School Musical 3: Senior Year games that you're promoting...
Well basically first of all I love High School Musical and me and my brother went to the premiere the other week, you know the new one and we had a great time. Everyone was like 'have you brought your little cousin with you?' and I had to act all coy and say 'Oh yeah, she's around here somewhere...' Me and my brother, we like love the whole thing, we're obsessed with it, because we like High School Musical and that it's light hearted and fun and I think if you watch a film and get involved with the games and things and you want to be taken out of the real world and especially now because the real world is so hard at the minute as well. So we're playing the games already, and will be on Christmas day too- we're going to force our mum into playing!
Who is it aimed at, a High School Musical fan perhaps?!
Well, obviously of course! Because you're singing all the songs, and at first I was like 'I don't know the words' but it doesn't matter, you have fun! You would think though that it's just aimed at fans of High School Musical, and people that are young but it's not, it's for all the family. The other day I was doing a dance with a little kid and I got totally beaten by this little kid! And also the Disney quiz game, I started yelling at the TV because I got that competitive! I was worried about the quiz you know, having to know loads about Disney but it's just common sense!
Tagged in Liz McClarnon