A WORCESTER man has pitted his wits against TV villain Anne Robinson for the popular quiz show The Weakest Link.

Paul Lessemun, aged 30, who faced the presenter's famous acid tongue for a show which will be screened on Tuesday, was even forced to sing.

Mr Lessemun, who works in marketing for Lloyds TSB, was forced to air his vocal talents with Here Comes The Sun after it was revealed he was a Beatles fan with pet cats called Ringo and George, He said: "I did make her smile a few times so I was quite pleased with that. At one point she burst into giggles, it was something to do with my singing."

His mettle had already been tested by dire weather conditions at the audition. Mr Lessemun, of Gilmour Crescent, Claines, auditioned at a hotel in Birmingham, on Friday, July 20 - the day of the great summer floods.

He said: "I finished the audition. It was pouring with rain as I walked back to New Street station. I was just about to catch the train and heard there had been a landslide on the route between Worcester and Hereford.

"I got on, got halfway and they sent us back to New Street. I was running around trying to find some way of getting back and eventually had to get a bus and that took us about four-and-a-half hours. I was hoping and praying I'd got through the audition."

Mr Lessemun was first to be voted off a mock-up of the game show, but still became one of only two successful candidates.

He travelled to Elstree studios in Slough, Berkshire, in September to film the quiz and - although he cannot reveal how he did - said he stayed long enough to be tormented by the Queen of Mean.

He said: "She really picked on me. I got away with it for the first three or four rounds but, bit by bit, everyone seemed to go and there must have been two or three minutes when she was ripping into me for being single and what my house looked like. She even made me do a lonely hearts broadcast."

The show featuring Mr Lesse-mun will be broadcast on BBC2 at 5.15pm on Tuesday, February 12.