Hurt night for Superstar hopeful

Scottish singer Dirk Johnston has been eliminated from singing show Superstar after ending up in the bottom two for the second night in a row.

The 24-year-old faced Tim Prottey-Jones in the sing-off after they received the lowest number of viewers' votes in the contest to find the lead performer in a new production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

After the pair sang a duet of Christina Aguilera's ballad Hurt, Andrew Lloyd Webber chose to send Tim, 32, from Birmingham, into the next stage of the competition.

Dirk, from Crieff, had been in the same position on Monday night but won out over Afnan Iftikhar that time. Tonight, however, Lord Lloyd-Webber sent him home.

Looking upset, he told host Amanda Holden: "It was obviously very hard to be twice in the bottom two, but I'm extremely grateful to have been able to come this far.

"And that you believed in me, and took me, Andrew - I'm only just out of uni, and you took me all the way up here."

The remaining contestants are Jon Moses, 28, from Newcastle, Ben Forster, 31, from Sunderland, David Hunter, 27, from Warrington, Jeff Anderson, 21, from Newtownards, Northern Ireland, Nathan James, 23, from Reading, Niall Sheehy, 31, from Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland, Roger Wright, 41, from east London, and Rory Taylor, 24, from the Wirral.

The new production of Lord Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice's musical goes on tour in September, featuring comic Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot, DJ Chris Moyles as King Herod and former Spice Girl - and Superstar judge - Melanie C as Mary Magdalene.