Barring a few notable exceptions, most X Factor finalists have long disappeared within a couple of years of leaving the show.

So it is remarkable that Lloyd Daniels – fifth in 2009 when Joe McElderry won – is not just working in musical theatre but playing the lead in one of the industry’s biggest roles.

Still only 21, the Welsh singer plays Joseph in the nationwide tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which comes to the Churchill Theatre in Bromley between September 23 and 27.

Lloyd said: “It felt surreal the fact that big names have done it in the past - Philip Schofield, Jason Donovan, Donny Osmond –it is bizarre that I would get the show, especially coming off X Factor.

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Picture by Darren Bell

“You wouldn’t expect it to go to someone off of that kind of show. I would have thought they would have liked to have seen me in something else first.

“I’m very happy, I’m in a good place.”

Amazingly, the show is Lloyd’s first foray into musical theatre and seven weeks into a gruelling schedule, he is loving it.

He said: “It has been a lot of fun and it is getting better and all cast are getting closer outside the show as well as inside the show.”

Joining Lloyd in the show are Danielle Hope, who is now a seasoned stage performer having won BBC’s Over the Rainbow and the Matt Lipinskas, best known as Anthony Moon in EastEnders but also familiar to Bromley theatregoers as the Prince in last year’s panto.

The show has been getting great reviews and reactions from fans, which Lloyd is understandably chuffed about.

He said: “The fact the audiences are on their feet at the end of every show and screaming is incredible. It’s what you’re there for. To get that back is a nice feeling.”

Of course, Lloyd owes an amount of his success to the X Factor but to still be working this long after he left the show is down to no end of grit and determination.

Lloyd's X Factor audition, aged just 16

He said: “The show is great for getting work afterwards – you will get it naturally for a year or two after the show, but anything after that is really putting your heart and soul into it.

“It is hard to get gigs after the gigs they give you, you have to really want it.”

Though he doesn’t watch the show as regularly as he did before he appeared on it, Lloyd said he does still tune in occasionally and is happy to see his old mentor Cheryl back.

He said: “She is awesome. She is an amazing woman. I’m glad she’s back because I do think it was missing her. She’s lovely, isn’t she? She brings this glow to the show that everybody loves.”

Lloyd Daniels stars in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley, from September 23 to 27. Tickets cost ÂŁ10 to ÂŁ25 at atgtickets.com/Bromley or on 0844 8717620.