Where are they now? The Illawarra's top reality TV stars of 2023

From a rollerblading, singing steelworker to a love-sick duo expecting a baby, here's who made headlines this year.

Boy band Overnight (Tyler Wade, Harry Herbert, Emerson Garcia, Kye Spindler and Jai Ellevsen) scored a standing ovation from The Voice judges back in August for their powerful rendition of Backstreet Boys' Larger Than Life.

They might not have made it through to the end, but the taste of fame has spurred them forward.

"We got great exposure from it, we built up quite a big fan base off that - even from countries like Brazil and the US and the UK - people were messaging us and DMing us on Instagram," Emerson told the Mercury.

Tyler adding these followers have stayed around which they found "heartwarming", proving they are not just a "passing phase".

The group has now released several singles (including Celebrity Crush and Home City Lovin) with plans to play as many gigs as possible in 2024, all now committing to the group as their full-time jobs.

"I think the complete plan is that overnight will be taking over our Lives completely," said Kye.

"We won't have time for a job or anything to do or just be doing gigs releasing music touring doing everything that we love and that being our main focus."

Other notable moments were the self-taught singer Chloe Thomson (a steelworker who loves to rollerblade) taking centre stage to infuse a gritty, rock vibe into the pub classic My Sharona by the Knack.

Sadly she didn't wow the judges enough to make it to the next round, similar to the retired Wollongong policeman Gilbere Gassin who chose to serenade the judges with Edith Piaf's romantic classic La Vie En Rose - however, it was a one-sides love.

Illawarra financial planner Jack Millar first burst onto our screens in 2022 on Married At First Sight, but in early 2023 revealed he had finally found love with Courtney Stubbs of Love Island and they were expecting.

On November 13, the pair announced via their social media accounts they had welcomed a baby girl into the world, Penelope June Millar.

The Mercury is unsure whether Jack is still working in the financial sector, but he certainly has become an influencer amassing more than 250,000 followers on Instagram alone with many posts promoting particular products.

Appearing on Farmer Wants A Wife proved dreams do come true sometimes on reality television as Wollongong gal Olivia Benic found love with Bookham farmer Matt Young.

Despite hinting at marriage and kids to the Mercury in May neither of those seem to be fulfilled, but the pair recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of their first-ever date.

"It's been one year since our very first date together," posted the self-confessed FWAW survivor on Instagram in November.

"Not a day has gone by when I have have not laughed or smiled with you @farmermattau."

Laura Byrne is one of Wollongong's favourite reality television exports and the mum-of-two's star shone earlier in 2023 as a contestant on Dancing With The Stars.

She may have been labeled a 'dancing gazelle' after her jittery jive caught the judges' eyes, but Byrne had fun while dancing for charity.

Most recently the podcaster and her Bacherlor-star husband Matty Johnson hosted the Carols on the Beach event to thousands on the Gold Coast.

"To the whole crew from @cityofgoldcoast for letting Marlie and Lola get on stage to sing along, a new core memory was unlocked," wrote Matty on Instagram.

Shellharbour teen diva Amali Diva set television screens on fire on the opening night of Australian Idol on January 30, the then 16-year-old leaving the judges in awe with her rendition of Make You Feel My Love by Adele.

Week after week the singer blew the judges - and viewers - away with her professional performances, but was suddenly knocked out of the competition in fourth place in late March.

At the time, judges Meghan Trainor, Kyle Sandilands, Harry Connick Jr and Amy Shark wished her well.

For the rest of the year the teenager has continued with studies at Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts while being booked for corporate and community performances - such as at Dapto Show and recently a Harrigan Motor Group function.

In other Idol news, the winner of the 2006 series Damien Leith took the Mercury inside his Mangerton home in November to meet the "noisiest" family on the block.

The musician-turned-radio-announcer has passed on his melodic genes to his three kids, who all love having a family jam together.

Despite this, he isn't too keen for them to follow in his footsteps and jump on reality TV, as Damien believes they've evolved to something far different than the days he stood before Andrew G and Dicko.

"If it was years ago maybe, as the formats were a little bit different and I think they were more focused on the actual pattern of finding talent and I don't think they're like that anymore, they're very judges-based."