By Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Rising Stars judges (from left) Clyde Mckenzie, Nadine Sutherland and Anthony Miller. - Colin Hamilton.

Now that the Judges, Anthony Miller, Nadine Sutherland and Clyde McKenzie have been made 'redundant', the task of determing who continues in the 2006 Digicel Rising Stars competition is left solely up to the public.

But despite once playing that decisive role as to who stays and who goes, the judges are making no predictions as to who the eventual winner of Rising Stars will be.

Anthony Miller says, "I really don't know who is going to go all the way, people have sentimental attachments so it's just a matter of people's choices. It's about the public's choice and the point is that somebody wins and we're all going to enjoy the experience."

Another judge, Clyde McKenzie, also declined to make any predictions, as he felt the competition had intensified and the race was now a close one.

"No, I have no predictions," he said, adding, "I think it's very tight, you hearing all sorts of things on the road, it's going to be very good and I'm looking forward to seeing it go down to the wire," he said.

The kind-hearted Nadine Sutherland, as usual, was more concerned about how other contestants would feel if she as a judge were to highlight one individual, but also agreed that the race was tight.

"I never will say, because it's unfair to say one competitor. The cards can play any way, you really don't know," she said.

So now, it's left entirely up to the voting public and contestants now have to be in perfect form onstage and ensure that their voting mechanism is well oiled.

The battle is currently between One Third, Nickesha Barnes, Brushy One String and Susan Perkins, Natel being the latest fatality.