The early noughties saw a new era of television talent shows.

Popstars, Popstars: The Rivals and Pop Idol ruled the ITV television airwaves from 2001 until 2003 and it saw the formation of stars and groups that were to become mainstream British pop sensations including Hear'Say, Girls Aloud and Liberty X.

However the showbiz world was left reeling with Darius Campbell Danesh was found unresponsive in his US apartment block and died shortly after aged just 41.

READ MORE: Darius Campbell Danesh's cause of death set to remain unknown for two months

And it's not just the news of Darius that has stirred up the world of showbiz, as we are here to take a look at some of the other sad stories to come out of the Popstars series as well as Pop Idol

Cancer death

Sarah Harding first shot to fame when she took part in Popstars: The Rivals in September 2002.

The second series was vastly different from it's earlier season in the franchise on ITV1 as it didn't result in the formation of one pop group, but instead it ended up with two rival bands facing off to have the Christmas number 1.

Sarah was the last girl chosen to be part of the group beating out Javine Hylton for a place in the band.

Girls aloud not only went on to get the Christmas number 1 but they also went onto achieve huge success in the UK with a string of twenty consecutive top ten singles, including four number ones alongside seven certified albums.

Sarah also appeared as an actress in Bad Day, the BBC television film Freefall and the sequel to St. Trinian's, The Legend of Fritton's Gold.

However she was diagnosed with breast cancer that advanced to "other parts" of her body in August of 2020. By October reports circulated she was living with her mother as she underwent treatment.

But by March of 2021, she said the disease was terminal and she passed away on September 5th 2021, at the young age of 39.

Nicki Chapman's Tumour

Nicki Chapman was both a judge on the first series of Popstars as well as the two series of Pop Idol that ran on ITV. Before this she was a well known music promoter.

However in 2019 she announced that she had undergone a procedure to remove a brain tumour that was "the size of a golf ball".

The 55-year-old first realized she had a problem whilst presenting the BBC show, Escape to The Country as she forgot the name of the programme's executive producer, despite knowing him for over a decade.

Although the tumour was non-malignant, she could only have a section of the mass removed because it was too dangerous to operate on the rest.

However, to her consultant's surprise, she announced the tumour had completely disappeared after results from a new scan and she says she was elated when she found out the news whilst filming.

She previously told the White Wine Question Time podcast: "I get a bit teary just thinking about it,

"They don't know why. And obviously I've still got to be monitored because these things have habits of changing.

Nicki added: "So we take the good when we can. Always look for the win in every situation. So Bert for the moment has gone and in the nicest of ways I hope the b****"d never comes back."

Sexual assault case

Dr Neil Fox was one of the four judges on Pop Idol.

But following an investigation into historical sexual abuse, he was arrested in 2014 and was accused of nine offences against six people.

Three of his accusers were under the age of 16 between 1987 and 2014.

The radio presenter denied any allegations of wrongdoing and in December 2015, he was found not guilty of all charges.

He previously told ITV's This Morning: "Trying to keep the normality of your kids going to school every day and coming back and doing their homework – thank God for them, because they keep you level."

Will Young PTSD

Will Young was Pop Idol's first ever winner in 2002 and he was aged just 22 at the time of his win.

He had a string of hits in the UK including his winning single Evergreen as well as All Time Love and with Leave Right Now.

But after winning the competition, it was alleged that a music exec told the star he sounded "too gay".

And he has continuously struggled with mental health and PTSD from hiding his sexuality during his time in the limelight, spending six weeks in a trauma facility in 2012.

He also dropped out of the 2016 series of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing for mental health reasons.

Simon Cowell's near death experience

Simon Cowell was known for his confrontational judging style on the Pop Idol programmes.

However the former music mogul is also known for suffering two near death experiences.

In August of 2020 Simon broke his back after he fell off his new electric motorcycle and was rushed to hospital to undergo overnight surgery after testing the product at his Malibu home.

Only 18 months later according to The Mail, Simon flew off the handlebars of his bike at 20 miles per hour without wearing a helmet.

At the time his appearance was described as "blood soaked" where he faced suspected concussion, facial cuts as well as broken arm. He was later spotted smiling as he sported a bright yellow cast around his arm.

Darius' dead at 41

Darius rose to fame coming third on the first series of Pop Idol coming behind runner-up Gareth Gates and winner Will Young.

He went onto release two studio albums and his debut single Colourblind shot straight to the top of the UK charts. He also released two other top 10 singles Rushes and Incredible (What I Meant to Say) and became friends with A-Listers such as actor Gerard Butler.

However in August of 2020 he was found unresponsive at his Massachusetts apartment near the infamous Mayo Clinic and suddenly passed away aged just 41.

The cause of his death has, as of time of writing, not been revealed as the local authorities await the toxicology report.

However local police have announced there is nothing suspicious and no foul play is expected.

READ NEXT:

• Darius Campbell Danesh's ex-wife shares sad tribute following Pop Idol star's death
• Darius Danesh rejecting Simon Cowell's record deal led him to have number one hit
• Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman chokes up over death of friend Darius Campbell Danesh

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