The next Will Young or Gareth Gates could hail from Sussex.
Pop Idol's judges have whittled down more than 20,000 contestants from across the UK to just 50 - and Chris Hide, from Lancing, is one of them.
The 18-year-old, who performed From The Heart by Another Level in his audition, is among the first ten of the final 50 to perform live on ITV on Saturday.
Each week for the next five weeks, ten contestants will sing live.
Chris will first be subjected to the praise, or scathing criticising, of the programme's judges Pete Waterman, Simon Cowell, whose mother lives in Ovingdean, Nicki Chapman and DJ Dr Fox.
The public will then vote for their favourite performers. The two with the most votes will go on the final top ten who will then be voted off one by one.
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