CHORLEY popstar Kevin Simm has every reason to be anxious about his latest television appearance.

For he's set to swap singing for sumo wrestling after agreeing to take part in one of the toughest reality shows on TV.

But his mum has predicted her 23-year-old son would have no problem surviving Channel 4's The Games.

Kevin, from Abbey Village, shot to fame in 2001 when he just missed out on being included in the group Hear'Say after becoming a finalist in the very first Popstars programme.

He and the other four runners-up went on to form Liberty X and have had a string of chart-topping hits, while the original Popstars winners have sunk without trace.

Now Kevin is set to return to TV in The Games, which takes a group of celebrities and trains them in a variety of Olympic sports.

There have been two series so far, and along with Kevin, this year's crop include one hit wonder Chesney Hawkes and Sky TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher.

The contestants will try various sports including the high dive, gymnastics and speed skating. But new sports introduced for this series include rowing, waterski jumping, trampolining and . . . sumo wrestling.

And Kevin faces the daunting prospect of being put through his paces in hand to hand combat by the experts before taking on fellow celebrities.

Kevin's mother, Bernadette, who was the landlady of the Royal Hotel, Abbey Village, when Kevin first auditioned for Popstars, said: "He's already started training and I think he is really enjoying it.

"We're looking out for when he's on the telly and everyone will be sitting round to watch it.

"Kevin has always been fit, keeping himself healthy by going to the gym for as long as I can remember."

Kevin had been singing on the East Lancashire club and pub circuit when he first auditioned for Popstars and had been planning to join the Army.

Other celebrities for the series due to be shown in the spring, include ex-Bread actor Jonathan Morris, former Brookside actor and heart throb Philip Oliver, travel presenter Anna Walker, ex-Red Dwarf actor Craig Charles and a polo player called Princess Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon.