Publications
Partners
We’ve finally come to the end of the auditions tour across the country. This week Idols visited Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein (two cities so important they had to share an episode).
Gareth was absent for the PE auditions and it wasn’t so bad without him there. Sorry Gareth. Without his presence, Randall showed more personality than we’ve seen so far.
The guest judge in PE, HHP, seemed to be there more for a laugh than to offer the contestants constructive criticism. Then again, the other judges often poke fun at bad contestants so why couldn’t HHP have some of the fun? His insults were funny and reminded me a bit of the kinds of things former American Idol judge Simon Cowell would say. Don’t you all just adore Simon?
In Bloemfontein, we welcomed back Gareth and also guest judge Loyiso, who was a welcome addition to the panel. While he wasn’t as funny as HHP, he managed to give the contestants good, honest criticism and also fit in a duet or two with Mara. These judges really know how to move the spotlight away from the contestants and onto themselves.
This stage of the competition gets so tedious and painful to watch after two episodes that I’m really thankful that we’re heading into the next round. Should Idols return for another season, I’d like to see more focus on the good singers in these rounds than on the bad ones. I always feel like they’ve stolen precious moments of my life after a montage of bad singing. In that time, I could have watched the flowers in my vase bloom.
I’d also like to see fewer back stories. It’s really become the thing I hate most in this competition. If I root for you, it should have nothing to do with your sad story and everything to do with your ability to sing and entertain. Yes, I’m looking at you Mr Reformed Robber and Miss I-want-to-shed-my-beauty-pageant-past! The story about the criminal past left a sour taste in my mouth. Good for the guy for being honest about his past, but at this point in the competition we could have done without that. As for the former beauty pageant contestant, Gail Nkoane, if you want people not to know about your pageant past, don’t mention it in your back story. I could go on and on about how these sob stories annoy me, but that would bore you are much as the stories bore me.
My rating for this final auditions episode is a big fat B. B for boring. Thank you Gareth for coming up with that one when you described young Carla Visagie’s version of “The Climb”.
I’m glad the auditions are over. Now we can all look forward to theatre week, which I’m sure will be filled with fake tension and scripted drama. On the plus side, we’ll get to know more of the good singers and maybe finally find someone to back once the voting rounds begin.
Gareth was absent for the PE auditions and it wasn’t so bad without him there. Sorry Gareth. Without his presence, Randall showed more personality than we’ve seen so far.
The guest judge in PE, HHP, seemed to be there more for a laugh than to offer the contestants constructive criticism. Then again, the other judges often poke fun at bad contestants so why couldn’t HHP have some of the fun? His insults were funny and reminded me a bit of the kinds of things former American Idol judge Simon Cowell would say. Don’t you all just adore Simon?
In Bloemfontein, we welcomed back Gareth and also guest judge Loyiso, who was a welcome addition to the panel. While he wasn’t as funny as HHP, he managed to give the contestants good, honest criticism and also fit in a duet or two with Mara. These judges really know how to move the spotlight away from the contestants and onto themselves.
This stage of the competition gets so tedious and painful to watch after two episodes that I’m really thankful that we’re heading into the next round. Should Idols return for another season, I’d like to see more focus on the good singers in these rounds than on the bad ones. I always feel like they’ve stolen precious moments of my life after a montage of bad singing. In that time, I could have watched the flowers in my vase bloom.
I’d also like to see fewer back stories. It’s really become the thing I hate most in this competition. If I root for you, it should have nothing to do with your sad story and everything to do with your ability to sing and entertain. Yes, I’m looking at you Mr Reformed Robber and Miss I-want-to-shed-my-beauty-pageant-past! The story about the criminal past left a sour taste in my mouth. Good for the guy for being honest about his past, but at this point in the competition we could have done without that. As for the former beauty pageant contestant, Gail Nkoane, if you want people not to know about your pageant past, don’t mention it in your back story. I could go on and on about how these sob stories annoy me, but that would bore you are much as the stories bore me.
My rating for this final auditions episode is a big fat B. B for boring. Thank you Gareth for coming up with that one when you described young Carla Visagie’s version of “The Climb”.
I’m glad the auditions are over. Now we can all look forward to theatre week, which I’m sure will be filled with fake tension and scripted drama. On the plus side, we’ll get to know more of the good singers and maybe finally find someone to back once the voting rounds begin.
