A woman from Tooting is All Shook Up after her son lost a competition for Elvis impersonators.

Joyce Ewens, 73, is outraged after a professional Elvis impersonator from America scooped the top prize instead of her son Joel, who failed to make the top 15.

However organisers of the Elvis European Championships say Mrs Ewens – and her Suspicious Mind – should accept her son’s defeat.

Mrs Ewens said: “The other Elvises treat him like he is the King himself. They all take pointers from him. “Everybody who saw Joel predicted a win for him. But the judges didn’t even put Joel in the first 15. Everybody was shocked. He must have felt awful. I said to one judge, ‘I don’t know how you sleep at night’.”

Mrs Ewens says because of the contest’s name, she and her son believed it was only open to European competitors.

But organisers of the Elvis European Championships confirmed it was open to impersonators from all over the world.

Mr Ewens, 27, paid over £200 to attend the Blackpool event and stay in what turned out to be a Heartbreak Hotel.

The Tooting Bec Road resident has been impersonating Elvis since he was 16 years old, when he performed at Ernest Bevin College.

Later he appeared in the BBC’s World’s Greatest Elvis competition, and was chosen to perform every night for a month in Las Vegas.

His mother acted as his voice coach, as she used to tour as a singer with Roy Orbison in the 1960s under the name of Beverly Mills.

The pair felt sure he could win this month’s competition, but were devastated when Trent Carlini, an award-winning Elvis impersonator, flew in from America and took the prize.

Mrs Ewens said: “None of the other Elvises stood a chance. These guys are coming over from America when we have good ones here.”

The message from competition organiser Micheal King is Don’t Be Cruel, and he stressed Mr Carlini was judged in the same way as the other Elvises.

He said: “Every single Elvis is a superstar. But actually there is only one superstar and that is Elvis. We do it for him.

“The nature of competition is that not everyone will agree with the decision.

“The contest is open to anyone in the world, so I expect the best people in the finals.”

• To hear Joel Ewens sing, visit myspace.com/joelewensswings