Pop Idol winner Will Young reveals Adele got suspended from school after she punched a Gareth Gates voter

Will Young has revealed Adele got 'suspended' from school after she punched a Gareth Gates voter.

Will, 47, and Gareth, 42, were locked in an intense battle to be crowned winner of the inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol in 2002. 

Fans of the pair took the rivalry extremely seriously, with Grammy winner Adele, 38, going as far as to land herself in serious trouble at school.

Will told Official Charts: 'Adele got suspended for standing up for me because people were voting for Gareth,' 

'She punched a girl.  Did you know that?'

Adele, 38, previously admitted to the playground scrap during a BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat interview and revealed she was given a one-week suspension. 

She said: 'I adore Will Young, he's my first love, I was obsessed with him. I got chucked out of school for a week for having a fight with Gareth Gates fans.' 

Will secured the title after a record-breaking public vote and released his debut double A-side single, Anything Is Possible / Evergreen after his victory. 

During his interview, Will also confessed he wasn't always a big fan of his biggest hit, Leave Right Now.

He told the outlet: 'I didn't like it at all when I first heard it.

'I didn't want to do that kind of song. I'd done Evergreen, I'd done The Long and Winding Road, You and I. I just didn't want to do a ballad.'

He preferred soulful songs like Your Game and Friday's Child over the big ballads.

He said: 'I just thought, no, it's going to be so boring to come back with a ballad.'

However, producer Stephen Lipson and manager Simon Fuller persuaded him to go with it and he felt it improved once the strings were added.

The singer is preparing to mark a major milestone in his career. The singer has announced a new UK tour celebrating 25 years since his Pop Idol victory, recently unveiling a 16‑date run titled The Evergreen 25th Anniversary Tour.

The shows will take place across February and March 2027, with Will performing with his full band and revisiting hits from across his two‑decade career.