Zoe Birkett opens up on tough few months after Darius’ death

Darius Campbell Danesh auditions for ITV Popstars in 2001

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Pop Idol star Zoe Birkett has told of her shock learning about the death of her close friend Darius Campbell Danesh. The 37-year-old said the cast of the talent competition had plans to reunite for an ITV show just three weeks before he passed.

Reflecting on learning the news, Zoe told Express.co.uk: “My agent told me and I just burst into tears.

“I don’t how I did it but I did the show that night and the next day I took it off, I just thought I need a minute. I just felt like I had been hit by a bus the next day.

“There were two shows the next day and I was like I’m not really in the space to kind of be happy clappy.”

Following his death, Zoe reached out to her fellow Pop Idol stars including Gareth Gates and Will Young.

“It was a shock for us all,” she continued. “It’s been a tough couple of months, it’s been a whole whirldwind.”

Plans for a 20th anniversary of Pop Idol on ITV were in the mix just weeks before his death.

“It was going to be really something special for us,” she added.

“And then just to have that happen literally three weeks before, was just like ‘woah, what has happened? What is going on? How has this happened? Can we speak to his family?

“It was just a lot in such a short space of time, everyone was in so much shock.

Zoe now hopes that a reunion will still happen, as a tribute to the “wonderful” Colourblind singer.

Darius made it to the final of the show back in 2002 against Will and Gareth.

Despite being a popular hit with fans, he came in third place, one step ahead of Zoe.

Missing out on the win didn’t stop the singer from persuing a successful singer.

His debut hit Colourblind went to number one in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks.

Following his death, the song debuted at number two on both the UK Official Single Download and Official Single Sales Charts.

Last month, the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office said he died from “inhalation of chloroethane”.

His death was also ruled as an accident.

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