[Kaz]

I missed Pop Idol last Saturday (Long story - was housesitting and looking after elderly dog for brother-in-law while he was on holiday, dog very suddenly took ill and died on Saturday:: Kaz absolutely distraught) and wondered if any kind soul could give me a brief resume of how everyone performed, especially my fave - William.

Any information gratefully received.

I'll do it for you and very sorry to hear about your brother in laws dog. Im afraid I wont be able to tell you every thing they sang because Im not too good on Burt Backarach!

Aaron - He actually did a good performance tonight but he isnt really standing out. Judges didnt praise him much but he took losing really really well and managed to come off stage similing!

Zoe - My personal fave (along with Will so Im gonna be nice anyway!!) Her performace was fantastic. She did 'Say a little prayer' by Aretha Franklin and she did it complete justice. Her outfit was criticised by Foxy as he said she looked a bit too much like Janet Jckson with a black hat on and stuff and he said she was still finding her own identity at 16. Her voice was powerful and she did brilliant.

Gareth - He did Arthurs Theme and he improved this week. His voice still isnt very strong but hes getting better. The judges praised him.

Laura - Improved a lot this week but still got the sofa. She did the Sandy Shaw song, 'Born to love you' and she looked more confident. Her vocals came through more and Pete really praised her.

Darius - He did good. He didnt thik so but he got a lot of praises from judges. Same style as usual.

Hayley - She did a fast song again and was wearing a very revealing outfit. Judges told her she did good but didnt realy tell her why she was so good. Not much to say on Hayley.

Will - Yay - I love Will! He was told by Pete:
'Now, do you want the good news or the bad news. The bad news is you aint a Pop Idol, the good news is you are a Superstar! Judges loved him, got a big clap and performed in his usual relaxed style!

Rosie - (Didnt wear a short skirt this week may I say!) Nicki said she had lost the sparkle she had and they both predicted her to go, her and Foxy. Rosie looked liked she was crying. Her performance was good in my opinion, a srong voice, but others dont agree.

There you go Kaz, hope that helps!!

[Kaz]

Thanks so much for that, Wildchild.

I'm still pretty devastated at losing poor Missy over the weekend, but her owners will be home on Friday - they already know what's happened - and hopefully I'll be back to normal by Saturday and able to watch Popstars again.

Will is my fave out of the boys, closely followed by Darius, and Zoe is my favourite girl.

[LEE]

I hereby give prior warning that I will not be able to watch it this Saturday, so I expect you all to take notes and give me a full report.

I'm going to go and be in the 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' audience instead.

Also, could you please remind me on Saturday to set my video for the BB special. Thanks.

[Mairi]

Kaz, I like William and Zoe the best too. What a shame you can't have two winners. I'm really torn!

[Mark]

Maybe 2 winners is a good idea - 1 boy and 1 girl.

For the person that comes second it will be awful.

Mark

[Feefs]

Do you realise the results will clash with the BB one? How cruel is that to all phone vote evictions programme fans?

Let's just hope it's some boring arguement in Germany their screening when ******* gives their moving farewell speech.

[Mark]

:shoc ked:

How ruuuuuuuuude

I think BB takes priority for me.....

Mark

[Mark]

Just thought I'd post up the Pop Idol things for this week! Forgive me if I get some of the song titles wrong!

Gareth - My Girl - The judges really liked his performance. When Gareth was speaking to Ant and Dec he started to stutter but he got over it!

Rosie - Your Song - The judges liked Rosie's performance.

Darius - Baby can I hold you tongiht - Darius sang this in typical Darius style! The judges were really impressed and so were the audience!

Hayley - Show me Heaven - The judges said this was a strong performance, and she sang it well.

Laura - The judges weren't overly impressed with this song - Laura had never heard of it before she started to learn it!

Will - There'll be no sunshine - The judges said that this song suited Will's voice - I can't judge him as I had never heard the song before!

Zoe - Street Life - One word..... Brilliant!

My favourite three this week were

1. Zoe
2. Hayley
3. Darius

I think that Laura will be voted out this week.

I will post up the results after for you - although the programme clashes with the Big Brother one

What are your views

Mark

ps. My sister informs me that Rik is doing a charity single.... Can anyone shine some light on this???

[Mark]

Laura and Rosie were on the sofa this week......

Laura left us...........


Mark

[Janette]

It was a night of mixed emotions this week. Everyone performed well but Laura was the obvious choice to leave. I was quite happy with that decision because I felt she wasn't as good as the rest. But when the decision came and the other contestants broke down in tears, it really hit home how hard it must be for all of them.
They've all become such good friends and they know that there'll be only one winner. It must be so difficult for everyone, wanting to celebrate the fact that they're still in the competition, and at the same time feeling so sorry for the person having to leave.
I don't really want to pick a winner now, they're all brilliant in their own way and it's hard to think that six out of these seven people are going to end up with nothing at the end of all this.
Sorry for being gloomy but seeing Zoe sobbing even half an hour after the show ended really struck a nerve.

[Kaz]

Here's my views on last Saturday's programme:

Gareth - Much improved on the previous couple of weeks - picked a song which suited his voice, but I don't think he's strong enough all-round to win.

Rosie - Good performance but, sorry, her voice does absolutely nothing for me. Don't like the Maria Carey style of singing at all.

Darius - Gets better and better (and better looking too!) What a difference between him now and when he had his first audition. Great performance, lovely warm voice.

Hayley - Fantastic performance - difficult song but sung beautifully. She's really started to blossom as the competition goes on.

Laura - Personality by the bucketload, but unfortunately her voice just doesn't match up to it. Good stage presence, though.

Will - Fabulous!! His voice is just amazing. Has a knack of picking the right song to suit his vocals, and this was no exception. My fave, no doubt about it.

Zoe - Not as impressive for me as in previous weeks, partly due to the fact I wasn't too fond of the song. However, bearing in mind she had less than 24 hours to rehearse it, she did an excellent job.

I think it was the right decision that Laura went this time. My money is on Rosie to be voted off next - she just isn't doing it for me at all.

Abba songs next week - should be very interesting!!

[Mairi]

My two favourites this week were Darius (for the first time!) and Hayley. I thought they all sang their hearts out though and, like Janette, I feel sorry for the poor little souls. But that's show business!

Heres my opinions:

ZOE - FAB!!!!!!! Her vocals didnt really show off as usual but she had a good reason and she is still my fave. Good mover and seems a really cool girl!

WILL - Love im!!! He is so sweet and unique!! Want him to win if oe doesnt!

DARIUS - Cant stand the bloke but has a nice voice!

ROSIE - Has a lovely voice but she aint choosing the right songs! Think shell be off next week.

GARETH - Much btter but dont think he should win.

HAYLEY - Lovely powerful voice but doesnt have that X factor.

LAURA - Seems lovely but isnt the best singer. She knew she was going so she took it well. Would be great on tv!

[Kaz]

We've got a bit of catching up to do on this, so to start us off here's my view on last Saturday's show:

Hayley - Good solid performance, but nothing special for me.

Darius - At a big disadvantage because he has the deepest singing voice and the songs were written for women, but I think he did well.

William - Brilliant as ever. Took the song and started off normally, then turned it around into his own style in the second half.

Rosie - In a word - awful. Song didn't suit her voice at all, too much warbling, and was flat on numerous occasions. No question in my mind that she had to go.

Gareth - A revelation for me this week. Best performance so far in the finals. Really picked the right song for his vocal talents.

Zoe - Not as impressive this week, but still bags of personality.

So it was bye bye Rosie. However, to misquote an Abba song, it was 'The Loser Takes It All' this week as she was promptly offered the chance to record with Pete Waterman! Not only that, but Kate Thornton gleefully told the 5 remaining contestants this 'good' news live on air. Of course they were happy for her, but what a slap in the face it must have been for them. Very tactless, I thought.

What were your views on this show, and what did you think about Rosie's subsequent good fortune?

[Kaz]

Click here to read article in today's Sun, giving results of their readers' telehone poll.

Hmmmm ...... I'm not convinced. After all, there were only 21,373 calls, and over 2 million people vote each week on Pop Idol. We've also got dubious comments from 'an ITV source' and 'a Pop Idol insider' - sound familiar?? Our old friends the source and the insider!!!

As someone who doesn't buy the Sun and didn't vote in their phone poll, I'm still sticking by Will!

[Feefs]

I think it only shows the intentions of Sun readers, but it is still quite a big difference. People will change allegiances when the numbers drop, but it looks like Hayley is on her way out. Darius and Zoe are pretty close in the running, but I think it's safe to say our Pop Idol will be male.

If it does come down to Gareth vs Will, the Darius and Zoe fans could swing it. Who do they like next best?

[LEE]

I'm a Darius fan, and I think if the final two were to be Will and Gareth I would probably vote for Will.

[Romantic Old Bird]

We think much alike LEE! Much as I hate to admit it though, the Scum are probably reflecting the public psyche. I must admit I'm suprised though.

I would have thought Will would have won people over from Gareth over the past few weeks. Gareth performed really well on saturday because he has a light 'steps' kind of voice.

Darius did well considering how deep his voice is. I really admire this lad, amazing character for one so young, and he does have the whole package.

Will has the outstanding voice I think. He makes each song his own.

The other two are competant singers who do nothing for me I'm afraid.

I am now becoming rather sick of seeing Rik Waller everywhere. He looks like becoming a regular on Lorraine, and I've seen him on R&J as well this week.

Back to those still in it, lets see what tomorrow brings!

[Janette]

After watching the show tonight, I'm struggling to find a loser! They were all great, even Gareth blew me away which I wasn't expecting.
If I've got to choose someone to leave, it would be between Zoe and Darius because they were only very good whereas the others were fabulous!
God, it's so difficult!!!!!

[LEE]

I agree with you that all of them were brilliant tonight, and I'm also finding it very difficult to choose who to vote for.

My thoughts are that the weakest two were Hayley and Darius, personally I thought Zoe was fabulous, probably the best of the five. I'm not usually a Zoe fan so that's quite an amazing thing for me to say

I think I will vote for Darius, cos I really don't want him to go.

[blinkinlovely]

I'ma bit of a late recruit to pop idol but have kept in touch with the goings on.

I've begun to root for darius as, I think, i admire his ability to keep on in there!
Just a question for a more informed person than myself: 'If, as it states in the Sun website, Darius is only 21, why was there such a heated debate about his age/ age of pop singers tonight???

[Kaz]

Phew, that was so emotional tonight - all 5 sang their hearts out and it was SO difficult to pick any faults with any of their performances, they were all fantastic.

Anyway, for what it's worth, these are my views on the fab 5:

ZOE - Absolutely brilliant. For someone so young, she sang the big band style fabulously. No doubt in my mind that she would be staying.

GARETH - Before tonight I had doubts that 'big band' would suit his style of singing. How wrong was I - he was fantastic.

HAYLEY - She sang brilliantly, with loads of emotion and did, as Simon said, look really sexy. But there was just a little something (don't know what) missing.

WILL - Can do no wrong in my eyes. Not a great song, I thought, but his performance of it was outstanding and he looked like he'd been singing with a live band all his life. Fabulous.

DARIUS - Picked the right song for his voice - lovely, deep and rich. I thought Pete Waterman's comparison with Nat King Cole was a great compliment to Darius's performance.

All in all, I think the public made the right decision tonight, and Hayley took it really well. I hope that's not the last we hear of her because she does have a fantastic voice and looks great.

What did you think?

[Christine]

It is getting really difficult to choose now, because they're all so good. Personally, I thought that Zoe was the best last night, but it's just so difficult to choose. I think I would like Darius to leave next. I find him a bit too smarmy.

Christine - http://www.bbfans.com

[Romantic Old Bird]

I don't find Darius smarmy, I think you're looking at a consummate entertainer. He has the whole package: looks and talent. I see him presenting, in West end musicals, possibly even films. He won't win this though.

My admiration for him grows every week.
He has great staying power, and consistently survives against the odds. Who does that remind me of?

Yes, he is only 21, which made that conversation last night puzzling. It does make you understand his 'can you feel the love in this room' statement better.
We all have said a few things we wish we hadn't in the past. I'm sure I must have said 'Groovy baby' in the 60's for instance.

I can vividly remember sitting at a club (also in the 60's!!!) saying 'hey, far out, that's absolutely amazing!'.......................

Back to PI. Darius will probably go next, although he just MIGHT outlast Zoe. After all, most voters are I suspect, girlies.