Just got back from tonight’s Canadian Idol results show.
After arriving at the Masonic Temple in Toronto, I was immediately perplexed as to the appropriate course of action. I wasn’t sure where the media line-up was and I noticed that there were two big groups formed.
The Masonic Temple is on Yonge and Davenport. On the Davenport side of the building stood a big collection of the contestants friends and family.
On the Yonge side of the building stood all of the crew members, some security guards and of course… co-host Jon Dore.
I decided that going to the Davenport side of the street was the best course of action and I immediately asked two security guards where I should go. They ushered me into the building and after some problems with the front door, some CTV doormen clearly did not have any idea who I was or where I was supposed to go. To be honest, I am not even sure if they knew what media meant. Haha, just kidding.
Anyway, they told me that the CTV PR person wasn’t available and so I went back outside and fraternized with the security guards.
Murtz tip: Always befriend security guards.
One of my friends used to be a security guard and worked at the same company as these guys and so we traded some stories. the two guards that I talked to were extremely helpful and pointed me to the right person to talk to.
After being checked in, I was ushered inside to a blue waiting room before the show began. I was the first one there and it was funny because the CTV audience relation members, clearly didn’t know how to entertain me. It was cool though, because the initial awkwardness only lasted for a couple of minutes before the friends and family were ushered in.
With an hour to go before the live broadcast began at 8 PM, the CTV guys started prompting the audience to start cheering (a recurring theme throughout the night). Then some random dude from Georgetown started belting out some Marvin Gaye. It was quite a scene. The audience seemed to be evenly split in their support, but it was quite clear from early on that this was a night that belonged to Sudbury’s Daryl Brunt.
I was quickly ushered up to the front row of the balcony section where reserved media seats were waiting. I thought that the wait was a little on the long side, but the 5-star treatment of the great CTV people made it painless.
With about 45 minutes to showtime, Sue Brophy came out to warm up the crowd. This is really one of the only things about Canadian Idol that I don’t like. I don’t think the audience needs to be reminded every 10 seconds that they need to cheer everytime host Ben Mulroney comes out or the words “Canadian Idol” are mentioned. Most of them could barely keep still because of their unparalleled excitement.
At 7:43 PM Eastern time, Sue told told us that chewing gum didn’t translate well on TV.
We were advised where the fire exits were.
At 7:52 PM Eastern time, the contestants came out to the stage and their make-up was fixed. They seemed to spend a lot of time on Daryl and Matt Humphreys from my vantage point.
At 7:56 PM Eastern time, judge Zack Werner wished all the contestants luck.
At 8 PM Eastern time, we were live. Ben Mulroney told the crowd and everyone watching that 2.3 million Canadians watched Tuesday night’s show and that they would announce the top 3 vote-getters before announcing the first two members of the Top Ten.
Mulroney asked a couple of the contestants what they were feeling.
Matt H: I had a good time, no regrets.
Jen B: Cool to see us on tv, I am a little blinky.
After a recap of the previous episode, Mulroney said that “Group 1 was stacked.”
Jon Dore then did a little skit advertising the Canadian Idol/Canada Post promotion where fans are invited to write inspiring messages to their favorite contestants. To end the segment he said “Seacrest Out” which I enjoyed tremendously.
During the first commerical break, Cher seemed very animated. Some crew members came out to set-up chairs for the top three vote-getters. Make-up was also reapplied.
The one prevailing theme that I noticed was how the contestants seemed to lack emotion. I thought they would be happy, or nervous, or even angry but they were all in a prevalent state of calm.
There were 8-9 people on stage during the commercial breaks (not including Mulroney and the contestants). Their roles varied from applying make-up, to adjusting camera positions, to adjusting Mulroney’s position. Mulroney also kept telling the contestants to breath during the breaks.
After the first commercial, a judges prediction segment was aired.
Jake Gold picked Ashley and Daryl to move forward.
Farley Flex picked Jen and Dianelys.
Sass Jordan picked Jen and Daryl.
Zack Werner picked Ashley and Daryl.
Ben Mulroney came back to tell everyone that 1.2 million votes were cast.
Then it was time for the show to really start.
Ben told:
Jen
Dianelys
Melody
that they were elimiated.
Ashley was then told that she was one of the top three. Again, I was surprised by the fact that she didn’t cry. It was weird. Everyone cries! It’s like a Canadian Idol requirement.
Daryl also made the top three and he showed remarkable poise and composure as he took his seat. Again, I was shocked that he could even stand.
Cher and Matt were then eliminated in a mini-shocker as Stephane took the last seat and kissed Ashley’s hand as he did.
During the next commercial, the eliminated contestants consoled each other and congratulated the top three. Melody specifically went over to hug them all.
Then it was time for the moment of truth. Daryl was the top-vote getter and performed once again. There was a little static in the studio when he started, so I am not sure if this translated on TV. He almost seemed as if he knew that he was moving on because he performed quite confidently.
After another commercial break and the prerequisite Mulroney stalling, Ashley was announced as the second member of the top ten.
She sang “Colors of the Wind” again and brought the house down.
Hugs for all.
Good show. The live experience never gets old and they really do sound a lot better live (which is odd because they usually blow me away when I am watching on TV as well.
