Natalie seeks Iceland stardom
SHE might be following in the footsteps of a troubled star but Natalie Henzell is keeping her feet firmly on the ground.
The mother-of-two is through to the final seven in Iceland's search to find a new face for its nationwide advertising campaign.
As they compete to replace Iceland's most famous mascot, colourful ex-pop star Kerry Katona, the finalists have now been put to a public vote.
Natalie, 26, says the competition has been all about finding an ordinary person who the public can relate to.
'The advert is all based around the everyday mum,' she said.
'They wanted to get away from having people like Kerry, who aren't really everyday.
'I shop at Iceland because it's near where I live and it suits my family perfectly.'
Iceland has said that customer feedback has shown people want to see a real customer take over the role, rather than another celebrity.
So along with more than 15,000 other hopefuls Natalie filled out an application form on the internet, never expecting to go any further in the competition.
'About a month later one of the company's directors called to invite me to an audition,' she said. 'I was absolutely speechless and very excited.
'I do a lot of shopping in Iceland in Portsmouth's North End shop, and the girls in there suggested I enter the competition, I never thought I would get this far.'
After an audition in London's Dominion Theatre, for which she read a short speech to the judges, Natalie returned home to wait for word on whether she had made the grade.
'I was a nervous wreck afterwards but the audition itself was really laid back,' she said.
'Everyone made me feel comfortable and the hardest part was waiting for them to call.'
Natalie, of Angerstein Road, North End, made it into the final 15, and then onto the final seven-person short list.
Judging the competition were the ex-face of Iceland, Coleen Nolan, Iceland founder and CEO Malcolm Walker, marketing director Nick Canning, managing director Andy Pritchard, and store staff.
Mr Canning said: 'Selecting the final seven to put forward to the public vote has been incredibly difficult.
'Now it's over to the public to find out which of our finalists they would like to see representing Iceland.'
Voting on Iceland's website started on Saturday and will run until Monday, April 26.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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