FORMER Pop Idol hopeful Aaron Bayley is backing Darlington teenager Zoe Birkett for success in the ITV show.

The Geordie, ejected from the contest last weekend, believes the 16-year-old will be in the final two, with Popstars reject Darius Danesh.

Meanwhile, train driver Aaron revealed that a "major label" was in talks with Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell's management company about offering him a recording deal.

The Northern Echo has received more than 70 calls over the past two days complaining of irregularities in the telephone voting system, which left them unable to back local heroes Zoe and Aaron.

But the 26-year-old, of Newcastle, has rejected claims by fans who found themselves unable to vote for him that the competition was rigged.

"I can't see that being the case," he said. "It would be just fraud on a mass scale if it was to be that way. I don't think there is any sort of conspiracy."

But Aaron hit out at the official Pop Idol website's appeals for old friends and ex-girlfriends or boyfriends to get in touch, fearing the possibility of muck-raking.

"I think it's a bit cheeky," he said. "If anybody has got something they do not want people to know about, or are ashamed of it in their past, I do not think it is going to do the contestant any good."

A spokeswoman for the show insisted the information was not for Internet publication and was part of the programme's sister show, on ITV2, which tries to give an insight into the contestants.

Asked who he thought would win, he said: "I have got a gut feeling between two different people. That would be Zoe and Darius. The final show, with two people in, will be those two."

For more about Aaron's thoughts on Pop Idol, visit www.thisisrevolution.co.u