Amanda Louise Marchant and Samantha Joanne Marchant (born 28 June 1988), better known as Samanda, are a female duo, consisting of identical twin sisters who first came to fame on '' Big Brother'' in 2007, in which they jointly achieved second place. They released their cover of

Aqua Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is used in many words which relate to water, such as aquatic life. In English, it may also refer to: Arts * Aqua (color), a greenish-blue color Business * Aqua (skyscraper), an 82-story residential skysc ...

's hit song "

Barbie Girl "Barbie Girl" is a song by Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released in April 1997 as the third single from the group's debut studio album, ''Aquarium'' (1997). The song was written by Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif, and Le ...

" on 8 October 2007 and it entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 26. Their second single titled " Honey Love" entered the chart on 22 August 2008 at number 125. This song was a cover of Donny Osmond's Number One UK Hit "Puppy Love" and was a tie-in with Sugar Puffs cereal (as their mascot is the Honey Monster, who also appeared in the video). As of 2019 they are both married and have one child each (both a few months apart and girls).

''Big Brother''

Amanda and Sam finished runners up in the eighth series of '' Big Brother'' in the UK despite being bookmakers favourite to win the show in the run up to the final. During their time on the show they received the nickname "Samanda" by the press. Before their fame they were social-care students at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

. While they were still students at university, the girls took part in an advertising campaign for a new travelcard that offered half-price travel to students. To help publicise the cards, the girls took part in a photoshoot at Manchester Piccadilly railway station with a local magician who performed a double version of

Sawing a woman in half Sawing a woman in half is a generic name for a number of stage magic tricks in which a person (traditionally a female assistant) is apparently cut or divided into two or more pieces. History There remains a debate about the origin of sawing ill ...

, in which he sawed both girls in half and apparently switched their lower halves before reassembling them. Samanda currently hold the longest duration as housemates spent in the house in Big Brother UK history after being in the house for a total of 94 days, also they are the only housemates ever to reach the final of the series without receiving a nomination.

Career

Amanda and Sam have their own skincare and fragrance range. Samanda by Young and Pure is aimed at girls aged 10–22 and was released on 5 November 2007. In January 2008 they signed a two-year contract with Young and Pure line of natural skin care products for teens worth between £40,000 and £150,000. In 2008, the girls released a keep fit DVD entitled, ''Samanda - The Twins: Dance Workout''. They were also signed by

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

as the faces of their social networking website as well as online bloggers for the site. On

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

with an interview with

Ben Shepherd Hunter Benedict Shepherd (born September 20, 1968) is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Soundgarden from 1990 to 2019. Shepherd has won two Grammy Awards as a member of Soundgarden. Early life Shepherd was bor ...

Sam and Amanda stated that they made over £1,000,000 between them. They have released two music singles since leaving Big Brother: a cover of Aqua's "Barbie Girl", and "Honey Love" which is a cover of Puppy Love by Donny Osmond with slightly different lyrics featuring the Honey Monster from the Sugar Puffs adverts. A further unreleased song "Whistle for a hottie" has been leaked on YouTube. The duo were celebrity guest judges at the Miss and Miss Teen Galaxy UK pageant, at the Thistle hotel in Manchester on 29 March 2009. They hosted a Q&A session with their fans on 27 April 2009, and a proportion of revenues generated was donated to the

Teenage Cancer Trust Teenage Cancer Trust is a cancer care and support charity in the UK that exists to improve the cancer experience of young people aged 13–24. Founded in 1990, the charity's key service is providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. It ...

Discography

Singles

References

External links

{{authority control 1988 births Living people British identical twins English female models Identical twin females Twin musical duos English pop music duos Big Brother (British TV series) contestants English pop girl groups English twins Musical groups established in 2007 2007 establishments in England 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Female musical duos