XML error in TSQL

Hi,

I am trying to run this script which parse a row value into multiple column by ','

  SELECT 
       X.I.value('p[1]',
                 'varchar(MAX)') AS [OutreachActivity_1],
       X.I.value('p[2]',
                 'varchar(MAX)') AS OutreachActivity_2,
       X.I.value('p[3]',
                 'varchar(MAX)') AS OutreachActivity_3,
       X.I.value('p[4]',
                 'varchar(MAX)') AS OutreachActivity_4

FROM
  (SELECT 
                  [XML] = CONVERT(XML, '<i><p>'+ Replace(OutreachActivity, ',', '</p><p>')+ '</p></i>').query('.'),
          OutreachActivity
   FROM
     #TEMP) AS A
    CROSS APPLY [Xml].nodes('i') AS X(I)

Now it worked pretty well until I got special character like '&' in that column value and start getting an error which says XML can't do character 73!

Please help.

ANK HIT - if reply helps, please mark it as ANSWER or helpful post