Darius is at last setting himself up to do what he's always wanted with his career - without pop impresario Simon Cowell.

"Simon Cowell is of no consequence to my career now", Darius told Heat, on a break from the shoot. " It would be nice if in a years time I could be sat having a drink with Simon and he'd say, 'actually Darius, you've made the right choices.' But then I'd rather have that from people who buy my records."

Darius insists that it was, in fact, he who chose not to sign with Simon's label BMG. Darius revealed, "I was told to release stuff, churn it out quickly. But I wanted to take my time.  If I'd won Pop Idol I would've had to release Unchained Melody or something - and that's not me."

Darius, however, refuses to say a bad word about the man who's become famous for saying nothing but bad words. "Simon and I didn't actually disagree. I just think he had a different view about where I should head. I also felt that I wanted to be with a record company that was championing me as their main interest."

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And judging by the grand scale of the video, Mercury certainly seem to have made him their top priority.  The shoot took place in southern Spain over two days and was the brainchild of top LA video director Greg Masuak, whose previous work includes Emma Bunton's What Took You So Long? and Take That's Pray. The crew consisted of more than 30 people and Darius' face was even powdered by Louise Constad, the woman from the Max Factor advert (yes, the woman who did the make up on The English Patient - you remember!).    

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No expense has been spared for the video, an epic drama of Enrique Iglesias proportions. Darius laughed, "I'm like a kid in a toy shop. They've got everything: wind machine, helicopter. I can't believe its all for me."
Darius has two looks for Colourblind (a song he penned himself). One is a Men-In-Black style suit and shades, the other a trendy Fake London shirt, cowboy boots and jeans (though he got green paint on his bum at one point from sitting on a bucket).

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Darius may be a video virgin, but the crew told Heat they were impressed by his professionalism and eagerness to please. He was a perfect gentleman at all times, and didn't even lose his cool when he met the stunning model who played his love interest (maybe because he knew her boyfriend was a policeman). Although Darius refused to tell us whether they snogged in the video or not, we later overheard her saying, "My lips are numb from all his stubble" (and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out).

Colourblind is out on 29th July. But before you think that the exotic locations and beautiful models have gone to Darius' head, don't worry. We spied him washing the crew's plates after lunch.