The nation’s eyes – and ears – are once again trained on a bevy of eager singers who have joined the line-up of this year’s X Factor.

This year, residents of Hertfordshire have an extra reason to tune in as 20-year-old Bushey Heath singer Honey Fine is taking part and seems to be doing rather well.

In Sunday’s ‘Bootcamp’ stage of the competition, now in its 12th year, Honey impressed the judges – Simon Cowell, Nick Grimshaw, Rita Ora and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini – as part of harmonising girl-group Mon Amie and was put through to the next round.

"Our first audition wasn’t shown on TV but we did make it through to Bootcamp - that was just the most surreal experience," enthuses the former Yavneh College student. "It was just an incredible experience – incredible."

Mon Amie – who are Honey, Abi Dhese-Biggs, 19, Monifa James, 17 and Izzy Lock, 21, – faced the first Bootcamp challenge to form a group with four other contestants and perform a song for the judges.

"We were just wondering around this field looking for some guys to join us and we found four amazing people – we were so, so lucky with our group,” remembers Honey, who was at Bootcamp with more than a hundred other hopefuls.

The team chose to sing Wonderful World and got down to work straight away.

"We had so much fun together," remembers Honey, who juggles X Factor with three jobs at a spray tanner, shop assistant and charity worker with special needs children. "We all sat in this massive hall and around us there were lots of people arguing and squabbling, but thank god we didn’t have that problem."

After just over a day preparing for the potentially life-changing performance, Honey's group filed on stage to perform in front of the judges.

"At the start of the song, I didn’t look at the judges because that was very scary, seeing them looking at you," remembers the singer, who is inspired by Beyoncé and Ariana Grande. "When we started singing I felt that it was going well, our sound was so blended and it sounded so good, I had to look at the judges. It was just amazing to see the reaction we got."

And Mon Amie are no strangers to working quickly, as the group formed three months ago while they were all students at The Italia Conti School of Performing Arts. Back then the group had five members, but after the first Bootcamp stage the fifth member, Courtney Dye, decided to leave the competition.

And yes – the clue is in the name – the girls are all the best of friends, which Honey says was reassuring when facing the judges at Bootcamp.

"It’s amazing that I have the girls on stage with me, I don’t know how people do it by themselves – I really don’t!" she laughs.

Mon Amie are back for round two of Bootcamp on Sunday, September 27, 7pm, ITV. Details: itv.com/xfactor