Louis Tomlinson

And that felt like a fucking mountain of people.

Cut to then your live TV audition at the MEN in Manchester, and there's 3,000 people in the audience.

3,000 people is a big gig for anyone to play, like, full stop.

Like, if you do 3,000 tickets, you're doing really, really well.

So, like, it's the definition of being thrown at the deep end.

And I think that's part of what they want, but it's not going to yield the best results from everyone.

Some people it is, but I just remember feeling like a fucking deer in the headlights, like really, really shaky, like really, really, just felt really, really uncomfortable.

I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.

I'd never been in a situation where I was quite a confident young lad, so it wasn't very often I'd even been out in my comfort zone like that.

And I just felt like a deer in the headlights, definitely.

Yeah.

Am I right in thinking that they probably had the idea to construct a band much sooner than... They must have done.

They must have done.

Knowing Simon, I will have had these conversations with him in the past, but I can't remember now, but...

Knowing Simon, yeah, I think you know what he's like, right?

He will have had that in his mind for at least for the year before.

He loves a boy band as well.

He's got a track record.

Yeah, yeah.

They make him a lot of money.