Australian Idol

What’s in a name? According to Wes Carr, a lot. Who? I hear you ask. My thoughts exactly.

The 2008 Australian Idol winner has been so tormented by the publicity (I use that term loosely) that generated the “character” of Wes Carr that he has been forced to perform under a different stage name in order to release his own music. That name…is Buffalo Tales.

Seriously. I’m not sure whether I should laugh out loud or laud.

Continue reading "Musical wannabe becomes buffalo soldier" »

Thank god for Guy Sebastian. Australian Idol might have given him fame and fortune but the singer’s willingness to be open and honest about life and religion will earn him a newfound and potentially more universal level of respect.

Famously a virgin when he made his debut in 2003, Sebastian has since moved away from fundamentalist Christianity, Adelaide’s Paradise Community Church that shaped his early years.

Sebastian attributes his change of heart to growing up, a recent marriage, plus the birth of his son Hudson.

Continue reading "Facing backlash for just growing up…" »

Beefing up our lagging Olympic medal tally for the Rio Games in four years could be as simple as sticking an ad in the paper.

That is how the British unearthed champion rower Helen Glover, who eased local tensions by winning the host nation’s first gold medal of the competition a few days ago.

Glover had absolutely no rowing experience until 2008, when her mother spotted an ad for something called the “Sporting Giants” scheme in the paper and convinced her to apply.

Continue reading "Sporting Idol: the search for Australia’s Olympic saviour" »

Hold for applause… and that’s a wrap, people. Altiyan - thanks for coming.

It must have been so promising to be voted number one on X Factor - the poor man’s Australian Idol - but ultimately Australia was done with reality singing contests years ago.

We’ve had Guy Sebastian (easily the most successful, praise the lord), Lisa Mitchell (a real winner who was kicked out early), Jessica Mauboy, (good, but still filling the support role) and Damien Leith (to handle Mother’s Day releases).

Continue reading "Altiyan Childs: Oooh baby, baby, it’s a weird world" »

So bumpy grindy dry-rooting on a dance floor is now acceptable fodder for openly Christian artists’ video clips. Fine. Not for me to moralise. That was done here in this piece and most of you said “Pffft. Who cares?”

What I’m wondering is where the outcry is from the huge flock of Guy Sebastian fans who wear their Christianity on their sleeves.

Look at the photo above. It’s G-Seb schmoozing in Sydney the other week with American rapper/singer Eve, a woman not known for her modesty, who has previously collaborated with the likes of Gwen Stefani.

Continue reading "Can Guy Sebastian have it both ways?" »

This week one and a half million odd people who tuned in watch the NSW fork lift driver Altiyan Childs take the top prize on the X Factor.

Finally Seven got the kind of ratings they had surely been hoping to snag for their big-budget import throughout the season after an overwhelmingly apathetic response from viewers.

As the series limped along, each week it failed to reach the stratospheric numbers the network must have been praying for after shelling out that sort of big bucks.

Continue reading "It’s not the X Factor in reality TV, but the cringe factor" »

With the latest episode of Australian Idol still not hitting the 1 million viewer mark in the new 7.30pm time slot, it is time for Channel Ten to hit the panic button.

Kyle Sandilands may have presided over the death of Big Brother by being the host in its last year, but has he also contributed to Australian Idol’s demise by not being on the show?

Without a doubt this year Idol has had to overcome the challenge of standing down a judge the week the show premiered, the loss of co-host James Mathison, as well as other changes to try and keep a tiring concept fresh. Here is what I see the problems are:

Continue reading "What’s gone wrong with Australian Idol" »

UPDATE 3/8/09, 5pm : Ten has just announced that Kyle has been sacked as Idol judge. Here’s what Emma wrote last night…

The decision of Austereo to suspend Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O from the morning show will now put pressure on the producers of Australian Idol and Channel Ten to decide whether he should stay as a judge on the popular TV program.

On Saturday Channel Ten was quoted in The Age as saying Kyle “will obviously be in the audition episodes as they were filmed some time ago.”

“But Idol is a family program, we consider this a very serious incident and our executives will continue discussions over the weekend to come to a decision regarding his future on Idol.”

Considering Australian Idol premiers next Sunday, they will have to announce this week whether they are standing by or punting the controversial personality.

Continue reading "Will Kyle get kicked off Idol?" »