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| The Pop Idol Final - December 20th 2003 |
Congratulations to Michelle - Winner of Pop Idol 2003!
Marvellous Michelle has consistently amazed the public with her brilliant voice and personality. She truly is a worthy successor to Will Young.
Mark performed great tonight too, but the dignified runner-up was the first to acknowledge that Michelle edged it on the night.
It was TV paradise, two and three quarter hours of the beautiful best and wonderfully wacky worst of the phenomenon that is 'Pop Idol'. |
| Click on the links below to read more about the corresponding sections of tonight's show... |
| Two luxury double-decker Battle Buses were prepared for campaign week, one with a huge image of Michelle's face painted on the outside, the other with Mark's mug on it. The final two set out in their charabancs on a Pop Idol campaign trail, each hoping to secure as many votes as they could for the final showdown. |
| Michelle and Mark reflected on their hectic week touring the country in their Battle Buses. They've given loads of interviews to newspapers, on radio and TV, had huge receptions in their home towns and manic receptions at their old schools. |
| In the midst of this hullabaloo practical joker Michelle arranged for each of the reporters interviewing Mark to give him some cheese. "Mark is a cheesy guy in every sense of the word!" she joked. |
| Mark wasn't going to take all this lying down, "I've had enough now, I'm getting angry!" |
| His brilliant response was to phone into Foxy's radio show while Michelle was a guest pretending to be her one and only heart-throb 'Colin Firth'! "Oh My God!" exclaimed the besotted Scot. Mark had her fooled for just a moment, but recognition dawned when 'Colin' told her he will be voting for Mark this Saturday. |
| He followed up by hiring a pizza boy stripper to deliver a package to her bus. Michelle looked horrified as the stripper wriggled out of his uniform and wiggled his bottom in front of her face. |
| Mark had more...when the buses met up at the end of the tour he told Michelle "I've really enjoyed the practical jokes that you've been playing on me, like sending me all this cheese and stuff, but I have used it for something else, I've recycled it, so just watch" He raised his campaign flag aloft as a signal and a torrent of cheesy yellow was paint-ball pelted onto the image of Michelle's face. Michelle had to concede defeat to a gleeful Mark! |
- All This Time
- She's Like The Wind (Patrick Swayze)
- Measure Of A Man
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| Mark's version of "All This Time" was upbeat in tempo and he sang it well and once again he gave a terrific performance of 'She's Like The Wind'. After singing his second number Mark faced the judges for the final time... |
| Foxy: Hey Mark, well done on getting through to the final mate. Erm, it's interesting looking back at the first audition, because I said I thought you lacked star quality and then last week of course I peed off most of the Midlands by saying you sang like a cabaret star last week. So has it got any better in the final? Well I think it's all gonna come down to how you guys sing, because I think it's gonna be that close tonight. I think Michelle pipped you on the first song, but she's gonna have to go a long way to beat you doing the second song, because that was the best one you've done in the series so far (wild cheers)...that was very good...it's all to play for! |
| Nicki: Mark what a journey you've had, and since the top 50 I think there's been 10 opportunities for people to keep you in or out and each time they've decided to keep you in, and you have become the 'dark horse' really in this competition...and you have got so much better than when we first saw you. You know you're very endearing, you're very, very talented and I think you've got a great voice and tonight is going to be an interesting one. |
| Pete: It's amazing Mark, I was working out that when we started this Wolverhampton Wanderers weren't even in the Premiership. You went through a sticky patch, and now you are...and I think, you know I said you weren't Premiership at the start of this, but you're in the Premier League tonight mate...and I think that song will give Michelle a real run for her money, I really do. |
| Simon: Erm...good. I mean you sang that, there's no doubt about it, very, very well indeed. Erm, you deserve to be here because you got more votes than most other people. Er...I look at you Mark and I don't mean this rudely, but I think 'ordinary bloke idol'. (groans) What's wrong with that? No that's why you're here...(audience member shouts "He's our pop idol!")...because you are an ordinary bloke with a good voice. |
| Mark: I don't know what to say...to that. |
| Simon: It's sort of a compliment. |
| Mark: I'll take it as a compliment then. |
- All This Time
- On The Radio
- The Meaning Of Love
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| Michelle's gave a really passionate rendition of "All This Time". Her version was slower in tempo than Mark's and sounded like an altogether different song. It was an excellent portrayal of the song and it's lyrics. |
| After another competent performance of "On The Radio" she stood up before the judges for the last time... |
| Nicki: Well Michelle, a lot of things have been said about you the last few weeks and even more has been written. Erm, the whole beauty about Pop Idol...it's to find tomorrow's star; what we are handing over to the public. You and Mark might not be people that the record companies would find, but that's what Pop Idol is all about, and you and Mark both have the talent to be here at the final. I'm so proud, you were tremendous tonight. (cheers) |
| Pete: They love you in here kid, no question about it...and I think they love you at home. (cheers) |
| Foxy: Yeah Michelle, neither of you...or Mark, were the top seeds to make it through tonight, but you're here because people have voted for you, and I think the way you've sung tonight...you look hungrier. I think you want this more, I have to say that, you're doing it with a smile on your face and I think you are two sets up for me at the moment and good luck to you. |
| Simon: It's all been said Michelle, I mean, you know at the end of the day you've got a load of votes, you deserve to be here. Erm, I think if you weren't in the final it would have been quite boring. Hey it would have been because you know, you...you've broken the norm, you know, you've made it interesting. Erm, I'm interested (big cheers)... |
| Pete: ...let me tell you kid, it takes a lot to get him interested |
| Simon: And I'm very proud that you're here Michelle, I really am... |
| Simon: ...and good for you! (cheers) |
| After Michelle and Mark's main performances, Ant and Dec caught up with the remainder of the final 12 (with the notable exception of Leon) for a quick chat. |
| Ant asked the group what life has been like since leaving Pop Idol... |
| Roxanne Cooper: It's been quite mad actually, people always stopping you in the street. |
| Susanne Manning: Yeah, life's really good. There 'is' life after Pop Idol honestly...a lot of Christmas shopping to be done...I like got out and I thought 'oh flipping heck, I've got to buy about 73 million Christmas presents. That was quite fun! |
| Ant turned to Chris and Sam, and asked them about the attention they have been receiving from 'the ladies'!... |
| Chris Hide: It's great...I nearly got chased around the supermarket... |
| Dec remarks that they are all bona fide pop stars now with a song in the charts... |
| Kirsty Crawford: I'm still getting over us making a single and an album. Wow! |
| Dec: It's been quite incredible hasn't it Marc? |
| Marc Dillon: It's been a massive journey, and (excitedly) I'm gonna be a dad! I told her I wouldn't say anything...(Dec congratulates him) It just all adds to all the enjoyment we've had... |
| Dec: (to Brian Ormond) And you're going on tour guys? |
| Brian Ormond: We're going on tour, yeah after Christmas, we've got an extra date 'n' all, so it's fantastic yeah. |
| Kim Gee: Nice to get singing again...so... |
| Dec: Back on stage...you're looking forward to that Andy? |
| Andy Scott-Lee: Can't wait yeah...They've just added a date in Cardiff, which is my place you know, so really pleased. |
| Once again Leon's absence and the reason for it wasn't mentioned during the show. He was also missing when The Idols sang their single on the Final Four show two weeks ago, the papers speculated then that it was due to Leon being unhappy about himself and Kirsty being left out of the line-up on the Pop Idol tour. |
| After a painfully funny video clip of some of the quirkier audition performances, Dec introduced us to three of the best, ahem, I think you know what I mean by 'best'! These were... |
- Hayley - remembered for singing 'Sometimes' only 'somewhat' in the style of Britney Spears.
- Daniel - dubbed 'The Stalker', he knows things about people, wears a sparkly suit and has an 'interesting' version of Soft Cell's Tainted Love.
- Warren - there's definitely no Survivor when he sings Eye of the Tiger!
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| Ant and Dec had a brief chat with the tuneless trio... |
| Dec: Hayley, let's start with you, how has being on Pop Idol affected your life? Have you been recognised on the street and things? |
| Hayley: Erm, I've been recognised a couple of times. |
| Dec: Yeah, people asking for autographs and things., |
| Hayley: Erm, once I've been asked for a autograph. |
| Dec: Cool, cool, brilliant. |
| Ant: Daniel, what about you? |
| Daniel: Yep, I've been stalked myself so the tables have turned. I've been stalked into the gents loos at New Street station and they kept saying 'sing, sing, sing'! But guess what? Y'know what I said to them? I said (booming) 'here comes Johnny, ow,ow,ow,ow,ow'! |
| Ant: That would have frightened me off, that! |
| Ant: Warren, what's life been like for you since appearing on Pop Idol? |
| Warren: Yeah, I've had people wanting autographs and photos with me and stuff and it's been really cool. |
| Ant: And you've performed as well haven't you? |
| Warren: Yeah, in front of 25000 people and Westlife and Girls Aloud were there and Triple 8, it was amazing, yeah. |
| Dec: But just one thing, none of you regret coming to the Pop Idol audition do you? |
| Tuneless Trio: (all shaking their heads) No. |
| Ant announced that the audience will be voting for one of them to perform. A little while later it was announced that Daniel won that vote. |
| Dazzling Daniel didn't disappoint. He began motionless and intense, then suddenly with an acrobatic forward roll he sprang into life and began bounding around the stage like a man possessed. It was one of the zaniest and most memorable performances of the whole series and had the audience in hysterics. |
| As the results drew near, reigning UK Pop Idol Will Young came along ready to pass on his crown. |
| He performed "Matter of Distance" a lovely soulful sound from his latest album "Friday's Child". |
| After singing Will met up with Ant and Dec and applauded the two finalists "Can I say I think they've both been absolutely fantastic tonight, I mean really amazing". |
| Speaking of how Pop Idol has changed his life Will said "The best thing is that you sing for a career and that's what I always wanted to do when I came into the competition and I still absolutely love it!" |
| At long last the moment was about to arrive when 20,000 became 1. We were about to find out who would walk away with the £2 million record deal. |
| Michelle was able to cut through the tension to give Mark an update on her liaison with Justin Timberlake earlier this week. We saw a convincing clip of Michelle being hugged by the well-wishing superstar, but she had to come-clean before the results, it was just a Justin lookey-likey, she'd just been winding Mark up! |
| The pair were then shown some celebrity good luck video messages from Victoria Beckham, Gareth Gates, Jamelia, Girls Aloud and Sir Cliff Richard. Surely that result has gotta come soon!! |
| Ant declared the results were in, all 10.26 million of them! The vote broke all previous UK Pop Idol records and also the record for the most texts sent to a television show. |
| At last Dec says those fateful words "The winner of pop idol 2003 is...MICHELLE!"! |
| On hearing her happy news Michelle hugged Mark warmly as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She gave Dec a hug too, and then, almost choked with emotion said "I just wanna say 'Thank You'...and for everyone who said I couldn't do it, well I've done it, so..." |
| Yes, she's proved to all those overly image-conscious bigwigs in the music industry that size doesn't matter. The public love her and have voted for her in their millions. What matters to them is a great voice and a fantastic personality. |
| Michelle walked across stage to sing "All This Time" once more. Cascades of glitter rained down as the other finalists poured onstage to accompany her on the final verse of the song. When the song finished they all mobbed her. |
| Runner-up Mark took the result with great dignity. Later on the ITV show he praised Michelle. He said that he was happy with the way he'd performed but "I just think she (Michelle) was a little higher than me". |
| Michelle's first record All This Time will be released on January 5th 2004. |
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