THE teenage dreams of two wannabe pop stars from Ringwood crashed and burned this week after they got stuck in a lift on their way to see Simon Cowell.

Michelle Scott and Grace Stuart, both 17, thought they had what it takes to wow the X Factor judges when they travelled to London for last week's auditions.

Under the name Unleashed, they had already sailed through the initial round with ITV producers, and were preparing to perform in front of celebrity judges Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Dannii Minogue.

Grace, a Brockenhurst College student, told the Daily Echo last month: "I think we're going to win.

"We're amazing."

Sadly, they never got the chance to prove their vocal talents when they arrived at the Emirates Stadium in London.

"There were a lot of stairs and we were running a bit late, so we thought we'd catch the lift," explains Michelle, a child minder and former Ringwood School pupil.

"But the doors wouldn't close so I pressed a big red button. Instead of going up, the doors slammed shut and it went down and wouldn't re-open."

The girls were stuck in the lift for about half an hour. By the time maintenance crews released them, it was too late.

"We couldn't believe it.

"They wouldn't let us audition, or even say hello to Simon.

"Grace even got on her knees and started crying, but they just threatened to escort us off the premises.

"It wasn't very fair."

And so the world will have to wait another year to hear Unleashed's unique take on the Shania Twain classic Man I Feel Like a Woman.

"We're pretty gutted," said Michelle.

"But we're definitely going to give it another go.

"We'll try to get all the way up the stairs this time."