I was sad to read the news this week that former X Factor winner Sam Bailey has been dropped by her record label after only 14 months in the business.

I'll hold my hands up and say that I know practically nothing about this lady, only for the simple reason that I gave up watching those kind of shows years ago as I couldn't bare the scripted falseness of it all - it was just a world away from the lovely, honest and very real show I had been involved in years before.

I decided to take a look at this woman's short career to identify what went so terribly wrong for her, causing record lable Syco to part ways in this manner.

I did a Google search of her name and quickly found many videos on YouTube of her weekly performances on the show. Maybe she wasn't that a great a singer and got through on some sort of sympathy vote?

After watching two or three videos it was clear as day that Sam can seriously sing and I couldn't find any hint of a "I need to do this for my granny's next door neighbour's second cousin's pet budgie that flew out of the window last week and hasn't come home yet" sob story, so I thought maybe it was a fluke on the night that she'd won.

Another quick online search gave me the breakdown of the weekly voting stats for that particular series, and to my surprise Sam Bailey won practically every week quite comfortably, with only Scotland's Nicholas MacDonald giving her a slight run for her money, so clearly no fluke.

I was starting to struggle in my quest for finding a reason why this girl had been dropped by her label so quickly after winning the entire show when it dawned on me that it must have been her record sales for her debut single that let her down.

Guess again.

Sam released her winner's single, a cover of the Demi Lovato track Skyscraper in December 2013 which rocketed to the top of the charts giving her the coveted Christmas number one spot and sold twice as many copies as Pharrell Williams' global smash hit Happy that week.

She then went on to release her debut album, The Power of Love, which again went straight in at number one, she embarked on the X Factor tour, supported none other than Beyoncé on the UK leg of The Mrs Carter Show World Tour and managed to give birth to her third child all in the one year.

Pretty impressive by anyone's standards I'm sure you'll agree, so why has this girl found herself in this position?

No-one will know the exact answer but I can't help feeling it's just a case of another one bites the dust in the X Factor production line of flash in the pan winners, and its a real shame.

Sam has responded in the best possible way though, with positivity and dignity, unlike some other previous winners who have suffered the same fate.

She tweeted: "Hi guys yes it's true I have parted ways with syco!! "Don't worry tho, I'm happy xx lots of exciting things happening xx."

I can only hope Sam really believes there is life after reality TV, because trust me, there is.

Sam has an amazing opportunity to go on now and make a real career for herself.

It might not be the path she originally thought she'd be on, but if she's willing to go on a little bit of a rollercoaster over the next few years and work hard, there will be plenty of gold at the end of her new rainbow.

As a wise woman once said, you can't have a rainbow without a little rain.

HAPPY Chinese New Year to you all. It's the year of the goat and all over the world millions of people will be joining in with the celebrations.

I was extremely lucky to be touring the Far East back in 2008 and experienced Chinese New Year first hand, and it still remains a highlight for me - although getting chased down the streets of Singapore by a giant paper dragon was not.

But that was my fault for wandering right into its path during the show.

Also, good luck to everyone embarking on Lent for the next six weeks.

I'm not revealing what I'm giving up in case I fail miserably, but if I make it I'll be sure to devote an entire column congratulating myself after Easter.

I bet you can't wait for that.