LIBERTY-X star Kevin Simm is to swap singing for sumo wrestling after agreeing to take part in one of the toughest reality shows on TV.

But his mum, Bernadette, is predicting her 23-year-old son will have no problem surviving Channel 4's programme The Games.

Kevin, a former pupil of Leyland St Mary's RC Technical College shot to fame in 2001 when he narrowly missed out on becoming a member of pop group Hear'Say after reaching the finals of the first Popstars programme. Now he is set to return to TV in the third series of The Games, which takes a group of celebrities and trains them in a variety of Olympic sports including the high dive, speed-skating and gymnastics.

New sports introduced for this series include rowing, water-ski jumping, trampoling and sumo wrestling.

Several programmes will be shown over the coming months highlighting how the training is going, before a live final broadcast from Sheffield.

Along with Kevin, this year's crop include pop star Chesney Hawkes, famous for his one and only hit One and Only, and Sky TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher.

Kevin's mother, Bernadette, said: "He's already started training.

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

Other celebrities for this series include former Brookside actor Philip Olivier, travel presenter Anna Walker and Red Dwarf star Craig Charles.

Co-member of the band Jessica Taylor, a former pupil of Penwortham Girls' High School, recently returned to our screens on BBC's Strictly Ice Dancing on Boxing Day.