Gornal News & Goings On

NEWS

Mark Makes his Mark again on ITV Mark Rhodes click to enlarge Black Country Pop Idol Mark Rhodes surged back into contention for the big prize on ITV last night, when his near faultless performance of Elton John's Something About The Way You Look Tonight eased him into the last seven. For a couple of weeks now Mark has been flirting with elimination from the competition. A fortnight ago he chose to sing U2's With or Without You, a song that needs to build gradually and so was completely unsuitable for the condensed format required by the show. Then seven days later he bit off all he could chew with an ambitious assault on the institution that is John Lennon's Imagine. The truth is that Mark has the ability to sail through to the last three or four, without having to roll the dice with dangerous choices, so it was great to see him on safe ground last night with a song he knows well and performs regularly. Another plus point for Mark last night is that bookies' favourite Roxanne was surprisingly almost rejected by the public, proving that any of the contestants can prove vulnerable to fickle fans. Next week Pop Idol is broadcast earlier at 5.50pm, to make way for the delights of Junior Eurovision. We're sure that Mark will continue to progress towards the latter stages of the competition - with the support of all you Yampy readers, of course!

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