Simon would have met his match with this one: an Idol contestant so dedicated she slugged out Madonna's `La Isla Bonita' while hiding in a bathroom in the Hamilton Princess during Hurricane Fabian.

But, as has been shown time and time again, even Fabian couldn't hold Bermuda down - and Bermuda's new singing sensation Jane Barnes will go head to head with a young singer from Ohio this weekend in the final round of the world-wide singing contest, Idol Online.

There have been many spin-offs since the sensational Pop Idol show took off in Britain several years ago, including the famous American Idol version of the show, which recently completed its second round of competition.

The shows consist of aspiring singers who compete against one another to become the singing "Idol" before a panel of judges, with the public at large also having a share in the vote.

The online version of the show - called, aptly enough, Idol Online - may not have received quite as much publicity as the televised versions. Nevertheless Bermuda can be proud of local Jane Barnes, whose 14-year-old son Stephen entered her into the competition as a joke - only to watch her whizz through the rounds to reach the finals.

"My first thought was, he just wants me to get on the blooper list," said the 45-year old mother of two, who has never taken a singing lesson in her life. "You don't really listen when kids are talking about these things ... If it's open to all the world, then what are the chances?"

However, much to the family's surprise, about five minutes after Stephen sent her audition in, they received an email from the competition organisers saying they had just made the deadline and that Jane was in the top 21.

Then, when she heard she had made the top ten, Jane said she reacted much like the character of Elaine on Seinfeld would to such news: "Get OUT!

"I thought, This has to be a mistake ... Stephen, whose voice did you send in?"

Every week, she said, she was sure she would be voted off. Yet every week, despite her lack of musical experience and recording technology, Jane made the cut. "No one ever told me I could sing. Now I have bragging rights at least."

But the fame has not gone to her head. "Everyone else is really serious," she said. Most of the contestants in the competition were in their 20s and viewing it all as their "big chance" to break into the music world.

Jane's biggest concern, on the other hand, is whether or not the contest organisers thought she was taking the entire thing too lightheartedly. A classic example: in a questionnaire-type profile, both Jane and the man she is up against in this weekend's final, 20-year-old Ryan Severns, were asked "Where have you performed before?"

Whereas Ryan listed a host of venues and finished by saying: "I am sure there is more, but I don't remember," Jane's reply was simple: "In the shower to a limited audience!"

"After reading everybody else's (bios) I thought, my God, these people are serious," she said. As for her: "Pitch? What is pitch? Whatever it is, I seem to be doing it."

But the lack of training, experience and equipment has not fazed Jane - even in the face of Hurricane Fabian.

Just moved into a new house, the family had not even unpacked their boxes and did not know how the house would withstand the winds, so at the last minute they decided to check into the Hamilton Princess. But there was still the problem of getting the week's songs in to Idol Online on time.

It was right at the height of Fabian, with her husband and daughter outside yelling for them to hurry to the lobby where all hotel guests were told to gather, with the winds roaring past that Jane and Stephen recorded her songs for that week. "Stephen literally pressed `Send' and snapped the laptop to and we ran for it," she said. "We were the last people into the lobby. It was wild."

The bathroom at the Hamilton Princess is not the only bathroom Jane has recorded her songs in, either. The family was on vacation for several weeks during the competition, and with limited Internet access while they travelled Jane also recorded in bathrooms in Las Vegas and Anaheim. "I'm like the opposite of the professional person," she said.

"This is amazing to me, that people have nice things to say ... It's the most amazing thing that people can hear me online," she said. "In my wildest dreams I never thought a group of university students would be sitting around listening to me sing."

She has also become something of an ambassador for Bermuda on the website, answering people's questions about the Island and in particular how we fared after Fabian. "I'm the token mature foreigner," she laughed. One of her biggest critics - and fans - is her son (and editor) Stephen, to whom she gives all the credit for having got her this far. "Stephen just says, `That's ok'. He never goes overboard," she said. "Sometimes he says, `Oohhhhhh dear, do it differently ... Do it, you know. Different'. But when I get: `That's ok' - I know that's a take.

"If music moves you, then it's done its job," she said. "I mean, (my four-year old daughter) Emma knows what music she likes. If somebody, one person, can listen to something I've done and feel moved by it that's brilliant.

"I try to give mine a bit more `ooomph'. Hopefully that carries me somewhere ... I'm hoping for an oomph-ful final."

The public's chance to vote on the final round is expected to take place at the Idol website this weekend. Bermudians can hear Jane's music and cast their vote at www.idolonline.org.