Hunky Danyl Johnson made a Caversham mum’s year when he picked her out of the crowd at Broad Street Mall on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old X Factor contestant selected mum-of-three Carrie-Anne Howes as the winner of the getreading competition after she waved one of our Welcome Home Danyl posters during his spectacular free gig.

Danyl Johnson brings the X Factor home to Reading

Ms Howes, her daughter Keya Weston, four, and her niece Carmel Howes, seven, were whisked along for VIP treatment at the pentahotel to meet Danyl and watch his exclusive performance from the very front of the stage.

The 22-year-old full-time mum, from Mead Close, said winning the competition had made her year after spending four days in intensive care earlier this year when she suffered from pancreatitis.

She said: “To be honest I was just looking forward to seeing an end to this year because after having my youngest daughter in May, I have been in and out of hospital and there have been a lot of health problems in my family. But meeting Danyl has just really made everything worthwhile.

“I am a huge X Factor fan and Danyl was my favourite – me and Keya would sit and watch it and we almost cried when Danyl was voted out.

“We came along and got a space watching from the escalators but I had to lift Keya on my shoulders because she couldn’t see and then Danyl picked us out, I couldn’t believe it! My shoulder was dead by the end of it but it was totally worth it.”

She added: “My partner James is working as a trainee chef in Yates’s, we are getting married next year. I texted him to say we won and he couldn’t believe it.”

Explaining why he picked them out from all the hundreds of posters, Danyl said: “I could see Carrie-Anne holding Keya on her shoulder throughout the whole thing and I just thought, wow that is dedication and that girl deserves some credit.

“It was hard though, there were some great posters and I especially liked the ones with tinsel and Santa hats.”

Some 3,000 people crammed into the shopping centre as Danyl belted out hits he sang on the ITV show including Relight My Fire and Man In The Mirror. He was then whisked off for a guest list-only gig at the pentahotel, where he was also joined by five winners of a getreading competition.

He added: “The gig in the Broad Street Mall was amazing, I felt so humbled to be performing in front of people who had voted for me in X Factor.”

After meeting Danyl, Keya said: “It was really good. I love him.”

Carmel added: “This was the most amazing day ever. I am going to tell all my friends and teachers when I go back to school.”

nslater@reading-epost.co.uk

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