“Hi guys – this week I’ve been filming for a new TV show in Barcelona. I can’t say too much about it because it won’t be out until next year, but I’ve been shooting with some other celebrities and it’s really exciting!
“On Monday I performed in my debut, one-off West End show and it went so well. A few reviews said I messed up some of my words but, at the end of the day, I’m only human and it was my first time doing it so the nerves got the better of me.
“It was just so good to be out there performing all of my favourite songs from the shows, and I did get mostly rave reviews and a standing ovation at the end. It was incredible and I was absolutely buzzing afterwards – I couldn’t sleep!
“Loads of people came to watch; my friend Katie Price, Lee Latchford-Evans from Steps – lots of people. It was a massive eye-opener for me and it just gave me a taster of something I’d love to explore further.
“After the show it was straight to airport to head to Barcelona – and I’m really missing home and my kids, and I’ve just got a little pug called Buster!
“He’s going to be a stage dog so he’s going to come with me on tour and everywhere I’m working. I’m really looking forward to taking him all over the place – I’m going to be like Sharon Osbourne!
“I have to talk about The X Factor. Mason Noise – what a bad move that was. He didn’t do himself any favours behaving like that and he needs to have more respect.
“If he’s not prepared to take a bit of critique, he shouldn’t be on the show. You’re never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, I’m not and I get that. I never go out on stage thinking, ‘Everyone is going to love me, I’m amazing’.
“In his defence, it is difficult going on stage and singing in front of all of those people and the critique probably embarrassed him. He did a silly thing and should’ve gone away more gracefully – but he’ll be remembered for that now.
“Now he’s returning to the show he needs to make a big apology and explain why he acted like that.
“Another show I want to talk about is Strictly Come Dancing. It’s been claimed that a few of the dancers, such as Jay McGuiness and Peter Andre, shouldn’t be allowed to compete because they have previous dance training.
“I’ve had this discussion with a few people and I have to say I agree – you shouldn’t be on the show if you’re a trained dancer. Simple. It’s about people taking themselves out of their comfort zone, and if I went on the show I’d be perfect for it because I’ve never had any training.
“If the contestants trained many years ago, when they were teens for instance, that isn’t so bad, but it should be made perfectly clear. It’s down to the show to let the viewers know. I will say that Jay is an absolutely incredible dancer.
“I would love to go on the show! It would discipline me into keeping fit and I would be learning something and I like to think I’m a really good dancer, although I’m clearly not!
“There’s been some debate this week about children using social media. I have three children, my eldest is 10 and she does have Instagram – but I monitor everything she posts.
“I only allow her to add certain people and it’s on private so only a small circle of people can see what she posts. I don’t allow her to have Facebook because I think at that age it’s ridiculous.
“She goes on YouTube but she has all of the privacy settings turned on. If she tries to search for something inappropriate, it will ask for a password.
“More parents need to be actively keeping their children safe online, it’s so dangerous these days. But I also think there needs to be more awareness of how to do this because I think some people don’t know, and are bit too lazy to learn.
“There should be an advert or a campaign where parents are shown how to apply all of the necessary privacy settings and how to set us passwords. There’s no way to follow your children around all of the time, and you can’t wrap them in cotton wool, but it’s the parents who buy the laptops and the phones so it’s down to them to make sure they’re being used safely.
“I have to get back to filming now guys, but make sure to tweet me with any comments or questions about this week’s column!
“Love, Sam xxx”