REALITY TV contestant Craig Carter is getting the support of fellow students as he prepares for his first live performance on talent show The Voice UK this weekend.

On Sunday the 29-year-old Stockton Riverside College student, known simply as “Carter”, will sing for his place in the quarter finals.

Carter, who has twice impressed the celebrity judges with his “rock” voice, said: “This is the big one for me now.

“To get down to the final 12 would be overwhelming.”

However it is up to the public now whether the former labourer from Billingham will make it into judge Gavin Rossdale’s top three.

Two team members will be decided by a public vote and one will be chosen by Rossdale himself.

“I am taking each round as it comes,” said Carter, who is studying a foundation degree in performing arts at Stockton Riverside College, in partnership with Teesside University.

“All I can do is focus on my next performance and hope that people will get behind me.”

Carter, who DJs at the Merlin pub in Billingham, said the support he received had been “unbelievable” and staged a last performance in his home town this week before heading to London.

At the college students and staff have been getting into the spirit by posting pictures of themselves on social media wearing their own Carter beards in a show of support.

“It is incredible to think that all those people are rooting for me,” said Carter. “All I can say is thank you and please don’t forget to vote.”

Described as Gavin’s “man mountain”, Carter secured his place in The Voice UK’s live knockout rounds following his performance of Stevie Wonder’s classic Superstition with fellow contestant Tanya Lacey.

His previous blind audition of Aerosmith’s I don’t Want to Miss a Thing not only got celebrity coaches Rossdale, Jennifer Hudson and Sir Tom Jones spinning their chairs, but it has also had more than 700,000 views on Youtube, while this week Good Morning Britain presenter Ben Shephard admitted the performance had brought a tear to his eye.

Carter will perform live on this Sunday’s episode of The Voice UK on ITV1 at 7.45pm. The public vote will open following the last of Gavin Rossdale’s team’s performances but will only be open for a few minutes.