Pop Idol flop Rik Waller today revealed he has lost his singing voice so has become an – EXAM INVIGILATOR.
Reality TV favourite Waller, 31, made it to the last ten of ITV1’s 2001 Pop Idol before withdrawing with severe laryngitis.
But the heavyweight contestant still became a household name before his career nose-dived – with one of his gigs in in 2004 selling just two tickets.
Waller yesterday revealed the vocal chords which bagged him a No.6 single hit with I Will Always Love You can now only – YODEL.
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It means he has abandoned his singing career and works full-time overseeing secondary school exams for Piper Assessment, in Sittingbourne, Kent.
But rather than leaving music completely he is running a mobile karaoke and disco business which he tours venues with his father Kris, 63, in his spare time.
And Waller, who still lives with his dad and mother Christine, in Sittingbourne, Kent, also revealed he has now changed his name to Richard – not RIK.
Richard said: “The most demoralising thing I’ve ever had to do was queue up at the job centre and have people look at me saying, ‘What a failure’.
“When you’ve lost the ability to do the job you’ve always done, it’s an incredible stab in the back to find people are actually laughing at you.
“It’s why I don’t make a lot of effort to talk to the press these days – it can be more trouble than it’s worth. I was never attacked physically but I had plenty of people come up to me and be particularly offensive.”
He added: “If you’ve got a roof over your head and food on the table I don’t know how anyone can be truly unhappy.”
Rik’s dad, Kris, who remains his son’s manager, said Waller’s change in career was forced upon him due to his vocal problems which have left him yodelling rather than singing.
But Rick also finds time to run Starsearch Entertainment, a karaoke/disco firm, and says he can foresee a time when he might try the world of POLITICS.
