Samanda are twincredible

3:48pm Wednesday 10th October 2007

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Kerry Ann Eustice tries to keep up with the Big Brother twins Sam and Amanda, their hyper speed-talking and Samanda lingo, as the girls tell her what they've been up to since leaving the house.

Neither nominated or down in the dumps during their stay to the very end in the Big Brother house, identical twins Sam and Amanda's girlie, excitable and happy nature is as well-renowned as self-proclaimed south-east London It Girl Charley Uchea's violent tantrums.

Another difference between the twins and Charley is the girls have managed to bag themselves a few money-spinning contracts since they came second in this year's show. Their first is releasing a single, a cover of Aqua's Barbie Girl, the song they often sung in the house, roping the likes of Brian and Liam to supply the deep male vocals.

How did your cover single Barbie Girl come about? Was it your idea?

Amanda: What happened was, when we got out of the house we were just talking to agents and they were all suggesting Oh you've got to do Barbie Girl'. We were like wow' and dead excited and stuff.

We just couldn't believe it at all. We were like, are you, like, lying,' and they were like no'. When we picked our agent they took us two days after to the studio, to start recording and talk it through, like.

We were just jumping up and down, dead excited. And all our friends were like dead, dead proud.

We did loads of fun stuff. We went to two different recording studios. The second one was dead, dead good. We had this girl called Emma who helped us do different tunes and notes and stuff with our voices. It was dead fun and we learnt loads of new stuff.

Me and Sam were looking at all the buttons in the studio and having loads of pictures taken and stuff. It was so funny, we loved it.

Was it ever a dream of yours, to become a pop star?

Sam: It was kind of like just an opportunity. Cos, before, when we were younger, I think every girl wants to be a pop star. It had never even crossed our minds because we were just at uni doing social work and stuff.

Then as soon as we came out and they offered us that, we were like definitely', that's a major opportunity we'd never get the chance to do again.

I've been on your MySpace page and had a listen to your Whistle For A Hottie song. What's that all about?

Amanda: In the house we were always saying whistle for a hottie' and we were just having fun with all our friends in the house and stuff and when we come out and went to the recording studio to do Barbie Girl they said we've got a surprise for you' We've thought of a song called Whistle for Hottie, if you want to record it'.

We were like what?' and dead excited. They showed it to us and they said we want you to make up your own verses. All the song is everything we've said in the Big Brother house made into a song. It's mad.

Do you think you will release it?

There's not been any talk yet about the release of the other song yet because we just want to see how Barbie Girl goes and we're really excited about that. But who knows?

I've seen the video too (the twins basically having lots of pink-themed fun, jumping on a bed and being girlie). It looks like it was your ideal day.

Sam: It was dead, dead, dead fun. The whole set was pink. We were like oh my god, this is pink heaven'. We got to do loads of fun things. They told us to act like we were in the house. We were having big pillow fights on the bed. We couldn't believe it. It was just like being back in the Big Brother house. Me and Sam kept having loads of laughing fits because we had to keep jumping up and down on the bed we broke the bed. It was dead funny.

You seem fairly outgoing but do you ever get nervous when you have to do any performances or apperances?

Sam: When we had to do our first PA, do a dance and stuff we were quite nervous but now we've got a bit more used to it. But it's just like fun really when we get to do things like that.

Amanda: And when we did the catwalk with Naomi Campbell the charity Fashion For Relief show, raising money for UK flood victims we weren't really that nervous for that, it was more exciting. So we find the fun side in it rather than just the scary side.

What else have you got in the pipeline?

Amanda: We've just become the new faces of Young and Pure which is a skin care range for teenagers. It's all natural products. That's really good because there's nothing much like that on the market. We're going to the, what's it called Sam? Yeah, the launch of it. We're dead excited. And the bottles are all pink. They've got pink writing on.

Sam: Also with Young and Pure we're getting our own perfume out with it as well, called Samanda.

We're also doing a fitness DVD aren't we Amanda? Amanda lets out a mini squeal Because we were dead addicted to fitness DVDs at home before we went in the Big Brother house we did them all the time because they were dead fun.

Amanda: And when they told us we could have one, me and Sam were like oh my god'. How funny will this be?

What style of fitness video will it be?

Amanda: We're not sure yet. But we think it's going to be aimed at teenagers and stuff. It's going to be one where you could lose weight but it's going to be more of a fun one than a hard one. So people can have fun with it. And we're debating for it to be pink another excited mini-scream.

Are you at home in Stoke or in London while you're doing all this work?

Sam: At the moment we're renting out two rooms in this house up London because we're really busy and often have to be in London early in the morning. We don't have time to get the train so it's just easier staying here. But whenever we have two days off we're straight back down Stoke all the time to see our friends. We went back down at the weekend and went to Alton Towers. It was so, so fun. We loved it loads.

Amanda, I bet you're enjoying living in London so you can be closer to Brian.

Amanda: Luckily, me and Sam, we're getting a flat down London together so I'm dead happy. If I was down Stoke or Manchester, I'd be dead, dead far away from Brian. It would be hard to see him. So I'm dead happy I'll get to stay down London.

How often do you see each other? I imagine you are both really busy.

Amanda: I do get to see him quite a lot, actually. Not too much because he's always doing stuff and I'm doing stuff. I get to see him twice a week or maybe a bit more, which is good because we always like doing loads of stuff. I'm dead happy we get to see each other.

How has your relationship changed since you left the house? It seemed you found it awkward to get into it on Big Brother.

Amanda: It didn't feel awkward because I got on with him really well. I just thought it was easier that way because I wouldn't want the relationship to be in front of the public. So it's not private. But when we came out it was really fun and stuff.

Do you go out on double dates with Sam and her boyfriend?

Amanda: We usually go out in groups and stuff and have a meal and a chat. We go out with lots of us so we can see as many people as we can in one night because we're always dead busy. We're like: everyone come out for a party'.

I bet you've been to some glamorous parties since leaving the house.

Amanda: Yeah. What parties have we been to Sam?

Sam: We've been to lots of magazine parties heat radio party, Capital radio awards like the MOBO awards. Been to loads of parties like that which are really fun because we get to meet like loads of different people; Nikki Graham and stuff.

Amanda: I've got some big gossip for you. We met Cheryl Tweedy last night. Can you believe? She invited us to her house and we were dead excited.

We thought we were going to pass out. It was so, so madness. Her house was dead clean.

Was she wearing amazing clothes?

Amanda: She was dressed in dead normal clothes but still looked dead gorgeous and pretty.

What other famous people have you met?

Sam: We met Daniel Radcliffe, who is so sweet. We met Nikki Grahame, she was dead, dead good. When we went to the MOBO awards we met Naomi Campbell, and like Erin O'Connor and Jamelia and Myleene Klass. We get dead excited and almost to pass out every time we see them, don't we Amanda? It's so funny.

Have you even spent any time apart?

Amanda: Never. We never have been apart. The longest we've been apart for is a couple of days, when we were about 14, when Sam went for a weekend away with her friends. That's about it. Even before Big Brother we went to uni together, had a job at the same time. Everything we've got to do will always be together.

And with this job it we've got to do the same things at the same time, which is good.

Would either of you still have gone into the Big Brother house if the other didn't get through?

Amanda: Never.

Sam: When we auditioned, sometimes we would do it together but in some parts we had to do it separately and they asked if only one of you could get in would you still do it' and we kept on saying yeah, but really we meant no.

We kept saying yeah so we could get onto further interviews. But we thought they're not going to pick just one of us. How can they?' And then when got on together we were so happy.

I was like saying, if only one of us can go then I prefer if Amanda could do it because I had a boyfriend and it would be more fun for her because she was all free and stuff. But Amanda was saying no, no, no'. I don't want to leave Sam. So the people couldn't pick, so we got in together.

What were your reasons for going on the show?

Amanda: We always used to watch it. And last year we were completely addicted to it. It looked so much fun. We were addicted since the beginning. Then when we turned 18, we knew the auditions were in February and we were so excited.

Sam: Not only that but so many people, all our friends and stuff, kept saying you two should go on Big Brother. It was so funny.

What were the highlights of your time in the house?

Amanda: When we became one housemate and coming second. It was amazing. I just can't believe it. It's almost impossible, not only did we manage to get on Big Brother but we managed to come second. It was the best thing ever.

A few people thought you two couldn't be genuine because you were so happy and lively. How would you respond to that?

Sam: I know! I think it's because we were really, really happy we'd got into the Big Brother house. Like, oh my god'. We wanted to make the most of however long we were in there; it could have been a week or the whole time until the end. We just wanted to make the most of every single day.

Everyone was just getting moody over little things. We kept thinking you should make the most of being here'. There's no point being like that. When people were up for nomination and things like that they were getting really stressed out, like oh, I might go'. We were like, if you might go you might as well make the most of the week you're going to be here for'.

And if you're in the Big Brother house with like your sister and stuff or your best friend, why wouldn't you be excited. It was like really, really fun.

Do you ever fall out?

Amanda: It's dead, dead fun. The only time we ever argue a bit is over hair strengtheners and things like that. Or when Sam wants to be 20 minutes early for something because she's always like a time freak and wants to be early.

Sam: Amanda is the one who's always late.

How are you different?

Sam: Amanda has her ears pierced.

Amanda: And my hair's a teeny bit blonder.

But personality wise we're exactly the same. People always say one's this and one's that', one's more doniman, domiman, dominant or whatever the word is - I can't say the word - and the other one's not. People always say that but then they always change their minds. Brian said it yesterday, that you think yeah one's this' but his mind changes every minute. There's not one who's more dominant or something like that. It's good.

What does the future hold for Samanda? Do you plan to return to university?

Sam: What were thinking is doing something to do with fashion and stuff like that. We've had a few offers from a few different shops saying they'd love to be working with us. So we'd love to do something like that, have our own fashion range or help to design. Because that's what we're really interested in.

We're just going to see what happens now with everything, such as the single. So that's really exciting. And we've said we're going to have a year off uni. It could all end tomorrow, it could last a year we just don't know. So that depends how many year we'll have off uni, one of two.

How do you think you would handle this experience if you were not with your twin sister?

Sam: We wouldn't be able to do it if we were on our own Amanda (whispers with horror): Never Sam: Because when I'm with Amanda, when we're together, we get to share the fun. If I was on my own I'd be dead scared going to all these places and meeting these people. I'd be like, oh my god, what do I do?' But because we get to do it together it's much more fun. It's twincredible. I love it.

Thanks for that girls.

Samanda: Bye. Thank you.

Barbie Girl is out now.