Cheeky Girl Romance in Tuam

By TOM GILMORE EASTERN beauty and one half of the Cheeky Girls duo, Monica Irimia, has found love in the West where she has just spent a week with her Irish boyfriend, Tuam night club manager Darren Geoghegan. The Romanian-born singing and dance star who shot to international fame with her twin sister Gabrielle on the UK TV show 'Popstars: The Rivals', is dating Darren since last June.[private] She flew back to London yesterday (Wednesday) after a romantic week in the West and during their stay The Cheeky Girls wowed punters in Darren's parents' Geoghegan's Nightclub in Tuam over the weekend. The scantily clad Eastern beauties did a sexy dance routine as they sang their UK hit song The Cheeky Song to rapturous applause from the Tuam audience. The song sold over 1.2 million copies worldwide and their first album got a silver disc for sales in the UK. 'I met Darren in June and since then we have become inseparable,' says Monica. But their meeting was by chance. The Cheeky Girls were due to play a gig in Galway and a driver was dispatched to collect them from the plane but he went to Shannon Airport by mistake. 'We had flown into Knock Airport and when the driver realised his mistake he phoned his good friend, now my current boyfriend, Darren in Tuam. He asked him to collect us. That is how we met purely by chance. 'It was a very fortunate chance as to be honest before that I wasn't into having steady boyfriends or being in a relationship. But Darren is so special to me and we just clicked instantly and now I don't want to let it go,' says Monica. 'We get on very well and I really love being here. I have been coming over as much as I can, whenever I'm free and he has been coming to England to spend time with me as often as possible,' she added. 'For now the distance is not a problem but of course we are both very busy with our work. My sister and I have a lot of travelling to do and while Darren is also very busy with his family's business we are still managing to have time together. For now it's manageable. 'I wish we could have more time together now, but maybe in the future we will,' added the Eastern beauty. Monica is not fazed by the West of Ireland weather either and she finds the culture similar to Romania. 'We had so much sunshine this summer that it was not much of a different climate from Romania. The two cultures are also so similar. Me and my sister have learned that Ireland has a lot in common with our country,' said the singer. She added that she has come to love Tuam and the surrounding areas since she started dating Darren in June. 'I love the town and Darren has taken me for lots of trips around the countryside in the West. He has taken me to Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher, Ailwee Caves and we went cycling in the Aran Islands. That was an amazing experience. It is only the second time for her sister Gabriela to visit the hometown of Monica's Irish boyfriend and she hopes the romance will last. Her twin sister added. 'The longest relationship Monica ever had was for six months so if she passes the six months with Darren then he may be the one,' she laughed. 'We have had amazing times with the people here during our visits as everybody has been so nice and so welcoming. 'I will definitely be coming here more often, especially now that my sister has an Irish boyfriend,' she said with a smile. Gabriela added that they took part in 'Popstars: The Rivals' more for the fun of it than regarding it as the step that would take them to stardom. 'It was just for the experience really and we've had so many experiences in the past eight years since we started our careers in the Pop scene. 'We've been on all sorts of awards shows, getting national music awards in the UK and many other similar awards in countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Japan and many more places. 'The first UK TV show was such a different experience for us. We had a great laugh doing it but we did not go there to win. We wanted to make a point that we can dance as well as sing,' she laughed. The two girls completed their ballet training in college in Romania before moving to England. 'We had 14 years of ballet training and we also did drama. We are qualified to teach ballet but we are enjoying ourselves too much now being Pop stars,' she roared above the sound of the disco music at Geoghegan's Night Club. The girls say they did not write The Cheeky Song. They did the dance routine for it but their mother was responsible for the lyrics. 'She wrote it whenâ€â€šwe were doing the auditions for the TV show and at the time we wanted to do a different song. We wanted to go with Money, Money, Money by Abba but for some reason that song did not suit us. 'So in a matter of a half an hour our mum wrote The Cheeky Song and 24 hours before the closing date we sent the tape for the auditions with us performing it. 'About a day later we got a phone call saying that they wanted us to go for the auditions in Wembley Stadium. That is where everything started. It was all almost instant. We never knew that the show was so big because in Romania we never had anything like that,' said Gabriela. They auditioned for the show when they were on a gap year at university at a time when they were studying law in Romania. They came to the UK for holidays at that time and as their stepfather was an exhibition contractor they were going around with him to places such as the Birmingham NEC and London where he was working on exhibitions. 'We had not made any friends during the first three months as we were going around all over the place. Because we were bored we just auditioned for the show for the fun and look what's happened, the rest is history,' says Gabriela. 'Since then our first album was released in 27 countries, we've had huge success and our second album was released in digital format. Now we are back in the recording studio doing a new song for release before Christmas. 'We have been recording the new track and it's going to be an amazing record. It will be the Cheeky Girls in style but will still be very different in many ways. 'We want to move on a little bit and achieve a new fan base along with our existing fans. So we are going a bit more towards Dance and Club mixes which is great,' says Gabriela. 'It's about three years now since our second album and the new recording will be really different â€â€œ but people will still know it's The Cheeky Girls,' added Gabriela. They also have their own range of make-up products, which were launched in the UK and in Ireland at a function in Dublin a few months ago. 'It's a girlie thing and we have the lip glosses and the eye shadows and perfumes and everything. The products are on sale in most pharmacies and beauty shops. 'It is our brand, it's our baby and hopefully we can make it a success too,' says Monica. She added that their mother has been a huge influence on the success of their music career to date. 'Our mum has been with us from day one. She has been our inspiration and she is such a driven person. We know nobody that is as driven as our mum and if ever we feel that things are going back she is always pushing us forward. 'She has more energy than anybody we know and she is doing all this for us. She is still our manager and she is so important for our career as she has made all the right contacts.' The girls say it is good to keep it all in the family as they can trust everybody who is involved with their career. 'Who else could we trust more than our own mother,' said Monica with emotion in her voice. Her sister Gabriela said she was sorry to have to go back earlier this week after having a great time in Tuam. 'My boyfriend is from South Manchester and we had such a super time here that I can see how lucky my sister is to be able to come over here so often to Darren.' But will her twin sister Monica be marrying an Irishman or is it too early in the relationship to look that far ahead? 'It is still very early in our relationship but who knows Darren might be the one. I'm very happy with him right now. We have been dating for three months and I've never been happier and that's the truth. 'Things are looking good right now and we will just have to wait and see where it goes from here,' she concluded.[/private]