AMELIA LILY’S family and friends will dress in pink in support of her bid to win the X Factor in this weekend’s final.

A 30-strong group of supporters will don pink clothing to match the 17-year-old stars hair. They will be accompanied by her number one fan, “Crazy Pink Guy” aka Sibbers.

Amelia’s former tutor at Teesside High, Dr Emma Radley, will be supporting Amelia in the audience tonight, along with the star’s former history teacher Susan Casey.

Dr Radley was responsible for staging the talent show Amelia took part in when she was 14, where the school witnessed a star in the making.

She said: “Everyone from the school supports her whole-heartedly. All the acts are really strong, but we know how much Amelia has done over the years to get to where she is.

“It’s not just the past few weeks she’s been working towards this – she’s put in so much effort.”

Dr Radley said pupils enjoyed Amelia’s visit on Wednesday, which was part of her whistle-stop tour of the North-East.

“She stayed for an hour and a half – she did some filming with the X Factor film crew and she got to chat with some of her old classmates and sign autographs,” said Dr Radley.

The Middlesbrough singer has attracted support from some well-known North-East figures in recent weeks.

Tony Mowbray, Middlesbrough Football Club manager, said he and his family were glued to the screen each weekend.

Middlesbrough’s Mayor Ray Mallon said in his Northern Echo column yesterday: “It must be hard for a teenager to take the kind of pressure that this young person has gone through in the past few months – being voted off, voted back on again and coping with the tidal wave of publicity this past week.

“Like most viewers, the thing I have to remind myself every time I listen to Amelia Lily is that she is still only 17.

“She’s good, but I’m convinced that she is going to get even better, whatever happens this weekend.”

The Nunthorpe singing star is now third favourite to win with odds of 5/2. Girl group Little Mix, which includes two members from South Shields, South Tyneside, are favourite to win at 5/4.