Luis Elkes, an X Factor contestant whose dreams Simon Cowell scoffed at in 2016, has had the best revenge a decade later by dancing on stage with The Pussycat Dolls.
Luis first appeared on X Factor in 2016, where his enthusiastic dance moves impressed judges Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh, and Nicole Scherzinger. Cowell, however, was less enthusiastic, acting exasperated and scoffing when his fellow judges gave Luis three yeses.
A decade in the making
While Luis ultimately didn’t win the contest, he clearly left an impression on Nicole, who used him as a backup dancer during a recent concert. Celebrating his triumph, Luis shared a video on Instagram contrasting his 2016 X Factor audition with his on-stage dancing.
‘New hair. New teeth. Better choices,’ he captioned the post before writing. ‘I believe I was always meant to be a presenter. I believe I’m now doing what I was meant to do all along, but the fear of being JUST “myself” always meant I’d rather “put on a show”.'
Healing and gratitude
‘Some life-altering trauma, some therapy and some hunkered-down years led me to where I am now, and I have never been more grateful or proud of myself,’ he added. Luis claimed that getting to dance with The Pussycat Dolls feels like it’s ‘healed a little something in me from over a decade ago’.
He then thanked Nicole, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt for the opportunity. ‘If you’ve never seen this before, then enjoy it,’ he continued. ‘Looking at this 10-year-younger version of me, I’m like, hun, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!'
Words of encouragement
‘I was just DESPERATE to change my life, and all I ever saw was people make it from reality TV, so I thought… let’s give it a go! It wasn’t my path, or my time (the singing didn’t help).
‘So if you’re in the middle of “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” as I was clearly (and I have been several times), don’t give up on yourself. Don’t give up on you!’
Luis’s reassuring words have gone down a storm with his followers who commented on the post, including Georgia Harrison, who wrote: ‘Omg I love it.’
