Fay Ellis, who first appeared last week on FMS with her thighs under her Instagram monniker Fay Simone, is a 31-year-old bodybuilder from the Swinton area of Manchester in that hotbed of UK female muscle that is the north-west of England.
Fay has only been competing for a couple of years, and - even to this untrained eye - her progress has been nothing short of spectacular. The picture above was taken soon after her competitive debut at the NAC British Open in 2013, where "little Fay" as she rather endearingly calls her-then-self now, finished 3rd in the Ms Figure class.
That was followed by another Ms Figure appearance at the NAC Universe in December 2013 - she finished 9th - and then eleven months later here she is at the NABBA UK in the Ms Athletic class, where she placed a rather controversial 3rd behind Sally Knights (right) and FMS fave Rebecca Maughan (centre, who won). What do you think? Compare, for example, Fay's and Rebecca's quads... Perhaps it was a case of Fay having too much for the class rather than Rebecca and Sally being "better"?
Either way, Fay had clearly improved a lot over the year, and as 2014 drew to a close, she resolved to be even bigger and even better this year. Can't wait to start prep and unearth the new beast from within in this off season, she said at the time.
Now whatever Fay and her trainer got down to during the rest of the winter of 2014 and the spring of 2015, by the time the summer arrived, her original plan to compete at the NABBA Britain finals had been scrapped. Instead Fay took to the stage at the UKBFF North-west on 3rd May, and for the first time she was a Physique competitor.
The best female physique on show all day, said John Plummer in his contest report. Fay Ellis showed a real 'wow' factor. Her classy routine marked her down as a definite British title contender. She was up against the much more experienced North-west champ from the last two years, FMS fave Jackie Hague (above, bottom left in the dark posing suit), but Fay was the clear winner. That euphoric feeling of happiness when they call you for first place, she recalls (the moment captured above, top right). My first show this year doing WPD... And my first time ever coming first!
She didn't have to wait long to have that feeling again. Exactly a week later and Fay repeated her success, once again beating Jackie into 2nd place at the USN Bodypower Classic. Just two shows as a Physique competitor, and she had two winner's medals.
Fay's trainer proudly showed off his work with the crazy ten-week transformation pic above. If John Plummer had been alone in thinking Fay was a serious contender for the British champs after the North-west qualifier, there were other believers now.
And during the five months between the Bodypower Classic and the British champs in Nottingham at the beginning of October, Fay seemed to be growing on an almost daily basis. Bigger, better - OMG! that BACK - and she sure seemed to be enjoying it!
Now if this was a Hollywood screenplay, Fay would not have things her own way at her next competition, and that's exactly how it panned out. Unfortunately I didn't place yesterday at UKBFF British Championships, she told her Instagram followers. It was a fab line-up, a few issues that we need to address. Everything went perfect up until about an hour before going on stage... then, you know, the smallest events, mis-happenings, mis-timings can spell disaster. But such is life! Onwards we roll.
And Fay's season is not quite over yet. Those guns will get one more airing before another off-season unearthing the beast within. The Amateur Olympia in Liverpool rolls around a week tomorrow. Maybe there'll be a Hollywood ending after all.
Her most recent Instagram post certainly suggests that her British championships setback hasn't turned her good vibes into bad vibes by any means. When the music's on and you start feeling ya self a bit too much while cooking... Yeah I live alone!
Enjoy!
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