The eight finalists in their own words

ROBERT MABBETT North-east
I was born in 1979 in Brough, East Yorkshire, where I now live with my wife Nadine and two children Matthew (nine) and Andrew (six).

Growing up my two main interests were sport, especially cricket, and music. I learned to play the guitar aged 13 and joined a band called Utopia playing songs we had written, some of them even got played on the radio!

After school I studied performing arts at Hull college where as well as developing my musical skills I also tried my hand at acting appearing in a number of shows including a Christmas pantomime. I studied pop music production in Newcastle before returning to Hull working briefly as a guitar teacher at a local music school.