Rachel Tucker: 'Why I'd do anything to get to see my fiancé'

The Nancy hopeful reveals the people behind her to Peter Robertson

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Rachel (26) is one of two Northern Irish contestants — the other being Niamh Perry from Bangor — among the five Nancys still in contention, and she's grown up around showbusiness, success and sadness.

The youngest of four children, Rachel is especially close to her long-suffering brother John.

"John has been very ill all his life," she says.

"About 10 years ago, he was on a list for a kidney. Him staying alive waiting for that was a massive thing for my family. He had to be flown back and forth to Guy's Hospital in London quite a lot as they tried to match him up with the right kidney, and eventually he had a transplant.

"Knowing what it's like to almost lose John is why our family is so close.

"John is 30 now but he still lives at home and he's on medication every day for the rest of his life. He's been an amazing support to me in this competition, as are all my family."

Born on May 29, 1981, in west Belfast and brought up in the north of the city, Rachel explains: "When my dad, Tommy Tucker Kelly, was about six he started out with his dad on The Black and White Minstrel Shows.

"He sang with Frankie Vaughan, and starred at The London Palladium with Des O'Connor and Vera Lynn, and he did showband stuff in Ireland. But dad put family first and is now a taxi driver, and my mum Catherine is a healthcare worker.

"My sister, Margaret (35), has two hairdressing salons in Belfast, my brother Thomas (33) has a caf£/bistro at the bottom of the Hightown Road, and John now works for Thomas."

Rachel admits life was anything but easy for her Catholic family during the Troubles.

"That was devastating ... awful," she recalls.

"All you would hear every night on the news was that somebody had been shot dead in a certain part of Belfast. We lived opposite a judge and there were always soldiers crouched down in our garden. We'd sit and talk to them, and I even used to sing to them!

"But I'll never forget once being on a bus going through the city centre when we got diverted due to a bomb scare. Then the bus stopped and was cordoned off by police. It was pretty scary.

"I didn't know anything else until the ceasefire happened. But to now see Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness smiling and being called 'the Chuckle Brothers' makes me laugh. It's such a relief to see Catholic and Protestant ministers getting on — that's so rare. And in I'd Do Anything, I've had so much support from folks back home, no matter what side they're on."

Rachel reckons she was seven when her father discovered her singing voice, and from 10 she performed professionally in the clubs with him.

"We used to have front-row seats for the Grand Opera House pantomime every year, and once the dame May McFettridge got me up on-stage," she says.

"Asked if I'd sing a song, I said 'Yes, You Are My Sunshine in the key of G'. The orchestra couldn't believe a nine-year-old knew what key she was singing in. So even then I was a little girl with a big voice."

After attending St Therese Of Lisieux Primary School and Little Flower Secondary, where she excelled in school productions and athletics, Rachel moved to England five years ago to study at the Royal Academy Of Music, and she went on to appear in top theatre shows in both Ireland and England.

Yet she admits to having no money. "I haven't earned a weekly wage in a very long time," she admits. "I've got by doing different day jobs, and my family and fiancé have both helped me out. Not long ago, my sister was sending me food vouchers for Sainsbury's just to get some weekly shopping. I've definitely seen some hard times. It hasn't been easy at all. That's why I thought I'd do this. I was very broke when I came into this show, and we earn nothing for being on it or even winning it."

When all the original 12 contestants were still in the series, Rachel shared a room in the Nancy House in west London with Tara Williams and Keisha Amponsa-Banson. "I felt quite lonely once they'd left. No boys are allowed in the Nancy House, but I've thought of sneaking in Guy, my fiancé, now I've got this huge room with an en-suite bathroom to myself. But we haven't chanced it because there's no getting by our security guard!" she says.

"Guy and I are allowed to see each other a couple of times a week, but at the end of the evening he gives me a kiss goodnight and has to go home. When I don't see him, I really pine for him like you wouldn't believe. I've really missed him this week more than ever."

Rachel and 44-year-old theatre director Guy Retallack have been dating for three and a half years and living together — in a two-bedroom flat in south east London — for two years. They plan to marry here next summer.

"It'll be a traditional wedding and I'll be wearing a lovely big ivory dress. The other I'd Do Anything contestants will all be invited," she says.

Meantime, Rachel is totally focussed on winning I'd Do Anything. On Week 6 of the show, she surprisingly received the lowest number of votes from viewers and only survived when Andrew Lloyd Webber chose her over Sarah Lark after the sing-off.

Typically, Rachel's family, who live just off the Antrim Road, leapt into action. "Last Friday, there was a rally outside City Hall with about a hundred of my friends and family wearing Vote For Rachel T-shirts and tying yellow ribbons round trees.

"They saw I was in the bottom two last week and they went 'Right, we have got to show our support ... don't let it happen again!'"