| The Pop Idol Story |
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| Way back last summer, auditions were held around the country in search of a new Pop Idol. Cowell, Fox, Waterman and Chapman were the judges that we came to know (yet not really love for some strange reason!) As the first few weeks went by we got to see the first stages of the auditions, sorting out the good from the bad and the bad from the truly awful! Anyone remember the Rick Astley guy (bad clothers, sunglasses and a version of something which was just about recognisable as 'Never Gonna Give You Up'!) There was laughter with the YMCA girl, weird moments with the guy who threatened to beat up Pete Waterman and of course, lots and lots of put downs! (Some of the best of these to come later) Those who got past the judges made it to the London stages of the auditions and the Criterion. They were then reduced to the final 50 and the live stage of the auditons. Over five weeks, 10 people were reduced to 2 people each week. We got to see behind the scenes on Pop Idol extra on ITV2 and see the contestants brush up their singing skills with David and Carrie Grant and the piano player man (Mike I think his name was, although I'm not totally sure!) Each week, we watched as yet more compliments and insults were dished out to the contestants, including the now infamous " that was distinctly average" said to our very own future Pop Idol! By the end of those five weeks, we were reduced to the final 10, Hayley, Rosie, Korben, Rik, Gareth, Will, Laura, Jessica, Zoe and Aaron. Rik though would be replaced by the not unfamiliar Darius Danesh, as he pulled out due to a throat infection. Week by week, we lost another of our potential idols. First to go was the cheeky Korben, next the Pete Waterman loving Jessica. Train driver Aaron, then chatty Irish gal Laura followed, who was then followed by Pete's fave, Rosie. Then we were down to the final five. The press speculation increased, we saw the famous five go to premiers, "wicked" being how Gareth described it. Hayley was the next to leave the stage, followed by the last girl in th comp, Zoe Birkett, by which time emotions were running high. Darius, the one "with more lives than a cat", left the competition the following week, with a typical Darius speech! Then we were down to our final two. Would it be Will? Would it be Gareth? If the papers over the past months were to be believed, Gareth would walk it. Only now do we know how close it had been the whole way through. An intense week of campaiging followed, with both boys having their own tour bus, which both appeared to love! One of the quotes of the week was to be from Will. Talking about when he told his dad he was on the bus, his dad texted back, saying "good, it's much cheaper than a taxi!" Saturday drew nearer and nearer, until it finally arrived. We would be in for a real treat! Will performed first, singing 'Evergreen', Gareth followed with 'Anything is Possible', both of these songs being the single. Next they performed songs of their choice, 'Light my Fire' for Will and 'Unchained Melody' for Gareth. Finally they sung the other side of the single. Throughout the everning we saw hilarious sketches with Ant + Dec, remember what Nicki, Foxy, Pete and Simon are gonna do in the future?! How about Ant and Dec's audition tape?! We were made to wait over two hours until the result would be announced. Finally the time had come. The percentages were announced, one had 41.6% and one had 41.1%. We then found out, after what seemed like an eternity, that our Pop Idol was William Young! He went on to perform 'Evergreen' once more as our Pop Idol. The final 50 joined him on stage as confetti fell all around him. He even managed to carry on singing when he got some confetti in his mouth! We could all see how emotional he was, especially at the end of the song when he hit a bit of a dodgy note, but that was forgiven. After all, he was just crowned Pop Idol! |
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