Pop Idol’s jovial judge Dr Fox has condemned Gareth Gates and his record company for scrubbing JXL’s Elvis Presley remix off so that the gappy-toothed star can get to the top slot of the UK singles chart.

The be-spectacled muso thinks that the move is a mocking effort to ‘fix’ the charts by guaranteeing no big competition for Gareth.

The King’s song ‘A Little Less Conversation’ has been one of the top hits of the year, but BMG stopped stocking stores last Friday. The DJ told the newspapers “People are always saying the charts are not exciting because they are fixed. It is not true always but in this particular case, yes, I would say there has been a fix. It’s so obvious.”You know, if it was indeed a move by his record label, then I’m pretty sure Gareth’s no angel then since he must have known about it.

Meanwhile, Gareth’s decision to cover an Elvis song could defuse controversy over the move to delete JXL’s remix of ‘A Little Less Conversation’.

He plans to release ‘Suspicious Minds’ as part of a double A-side with ‘Pop Idol’ victor Will Young. The other main track will be their duet on the Beatles’ song ‘Long And Winding Road’.

Will and Gareth’s joint effort will be out in September.