The X Factor house is riddled with flu but Croydon’s favourite van driver has vowed the show must go on and he is ready to wow the crowds again tomorrow night.

Ben Haenow has been a bookies favourite since his first audition on the ITV show and now his mentor Simon Cowell says fans should put £50 on him to win the contest.

He came down with a throat infection earlier in the week and has been on voice rest but is still hoping to do his mentor and himself proud.

He said: “We are all pretty ill and it is more like a hospital at the moment.

“At the beginning of the week I was feeling pretty grotty.

“Because we are all in such close proximity in the house it’s inevitable that it was going to be spread.

“But the show has to go on.

“I was a bit down in the dumps in the week but hopefully I will be back to back to 100 per cent by the shows.

“I’m going to go out and give it everything.”

Haenow is pleased that Mr Cowell has said people should bet on him to win the final in December.

But if he was betting himself, choosing a winner would not be so easy.

The former Edenham High School pupil said: “If I was a betting man I would steer clear of this year’s contest because it is such a strong competition.

“This year the level of the talent is so high.

“Direct competition for me is everybody, you cannot call it.”

Whether he wins or not, one thing is clear for Haenow and that is his life has changed forever.

Although he jokingly said he does not have to disguise himself to walk around Croydon, he does get recognised and is enjoying this side of fame.

He said: “I have been back to Croydon on the weekends and it has been mad.

“I go to the Whitgift Centre and people notice me.

“I’m always trying to come back to Croydon.

“People have been really supportive.

“Nobody is getting in my face and it has been really nice.”

And after the show has finished the 29-year-old, who has gigged at The Black Sheep bar, The Gun Tavern, and other venues, thinks Fairfield Halls would be a great place for a comeback concert.

He said: “The Fairfield Halls is a great venue and it has got a lot of heritage.

“As a venue I think that will be the best place to play and sing some songs.”

Another thing on the agenda for Haenow, from Shrublands, and his girlfriend Jessica Jones after the show is marriage but he said it will be on their own terms, and will not be happening on the show.

He said: “It is always difficult being away from her as she is my sounding board.

“It’s more difficult for her than me because I am in the whole process but we talk every day on the phone and text each other all the time.

“On the weekends she comes down to see the performance and we stay in a hotel or come back to Croydon.

“We have been together for six years and marriage is something we have talked about.

“She’s definitely the one that I’m going to marry and spend the rest of my life with.

“[A proposal] is going to happen when it is right and not on the show.”