THERE is no tougher contest than the fame game. Winners need tenacity as much as talent, and our boy Alistair is showing plenty of both.

Alistair Griffin has made it to the last four of the BBC's Fame Academy despite being regularly slated by the "head teacher" Richard Park.

Alistair's own brand of street music, honed as a busker in York, may not have impressed the boss, but the public and his dwindling band of fellow housemates think differently.

And the former York student has the full backing of his home village of Castleton, whose residents are voting like mad for their very own Ali G.

Updated: 10:45 Monday, September 22, 2003