It's 21 years ago today that Darius made his return to the Pop Idol finals after initially missing out on a coveted place in the Top 10.
After getting through the various stages of the show Darius was amongst those told on 11th September 2001 that he had made the final 50 in the competition. The final 50 then had to be reduced to 10 and so had to perform in a series of heats. During these heats each group was put to the public vote each week. Two contestants from each week were voted through to the show's final ten. Darius was put into the last of the five heats. His heat was recorded on 28th November 2001 and aired on 1st December 2001. During his heat he sang a version of 'Something Inside (So Strong)' by Labi Siffre, accompanied just by piano. Unfortunately after the public votes were counted he came third behind Aaron Bayley and Rik Waller, just missing out on going through to the final ten.
And so it seemed that Darius' dreams of becoming a Pop Idol were over, however on the first live show of the series, broadcast on 15th December 2001, just 9 contestants appeared. Rik Waller had a throat infection which prevented him from singing.
The producers allowed Waller to sit out the first week and, if he had recovered, they would let him compete from the second week. A decision was made that if he failed to recover, Darius, who had missed out on a place in the final 10 in the same heat as Waller, would take his place. Waller visited a doctor in the week following the first show to assess his condition. Darius was contacted and told to prepare himself that he may be in the live shows after all.
Leaving it until the last possible moment Rik Waller pulled out of Pop Idol on 22nd December, the day of the second live show. Darius then immediately replaced him as one of the nine remaining contestants and took to the stage to perform 'When A Child Is Born' as part of the episode's Christmas song theme. He immediately impressed and figures published later showed he came third in the public vote with 19% of votes.
Watch the moment Ant and Dec announced Darius was back in the competition below:
You can also see the first results show where Darius is saved to go through to the next week below:
(It's very low quality, but still watchable).
Comments