His mother, Marie told the Times this was the first time the Idol contestants had been allowed to spend a night away from the shared home in Sydney.

“We spent the day with James in Newcastle and it was good for him to experience a day away.”

The Idol work schedule is “full on,” Marie says.

Tuesday is his vocal training which Marie says is making a huge difference.

“I can hear his voice changing and becoming stronger. “I heard him one week and I was shocked. He went for notes I haven’t heard for a long time.”

Marie says James had started to tone his voice down for singing live gigs, which would go for about four hours in a row, but she is hearing that vocal range come back again.

He also seems to be losing the nerves, she said, which could be attributed to feeling more comfortable with the fellow contestants which he describes as a “big family”.

He is also receiving plenty of public attention.

“When we were in Newcastle for the day people were asking for his photo and autograph and the recognition is amazing,” Marie said. She sits back and watches and says the feedback has been all positive.

But she jokes she never thought she would see her son dance on television, as the Idol schedule includes group choreography rehearsals.

“When you see them live (performing the group choreography) you can tell they are having a lot of fun with it,” Marie says.

“You can see the twinkle in the eyes.”

But there is some pain involved.

“During one routine James had to keep falling to his knees and it happened to be on one spot which was all uneven. By the end of it James had cuts and bruises all over his knees,” she says.

“The last week was a bloody week...”

Other than this, Marie says James is loving the experience.

He described the week they performed in Melbourne, for the Australian Football League finals, as “the best week of his life”. The idols performed at Melbourne’s Federation Square to an audience of about 4000 people and were signing autographs.