A girl group that toured Europe with The Pussycat Dolls said it was ‘surreal’ to join their childhood heroes on stage.

Deja Vu, formed of Elle Botterill and Tyrece Lewis from Buckinghamshire alongside Venezuelan-born Carolina Diaz, performed their first-ever live shows during the 20-date arena tour across the UK and Europe.

The group were left stunned when Kimberly Wyatt personally invited them to join the headliners during the dance break of their hit song, Buttons.

Botterill said: “Even afterwards, we were just like, ‘I can’t believe that’s actually just happened, we’ve been on stage dancing with The Pussycat Dolls in front of thousands of people’.”

The PCD Forever Tour, celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Pussycat Dolls, saw the trio visit cities including Prague and Paris, before finishing at London’s O2 on Tuesday.

The group had formed during the Covid-19 pandemic and reached the semi-finals of The Voice UK in 2023, but the tour was the first time they had performed full shows for an audience.

Lewis said: “We were genuinely thrown in at the deep end, we went from dancing for social media videos on street corners to swimming with great whites.

Diaz added: “I’m not going to lie, we did have a bit of imposter syndrome at the first shows.

“But it taught us that we are capable and deserving of these things after working so hard for all them years.”

Now, the group will focus on their own original music ahead of their debut headline show on 1 December at The Grace in London.

For the trio, who grew up as massive fans of the American pop group, the entire tour served as a masterclass.

Lewis beamed: “Nicole did tell us that she was proud of us… That is everything to us.”

Botterill laughed: “I almost cried big girl tears… I’m going to get it tattooed across my chest!”

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