Toronto, ON (June 22, 2005) – The phone lines were burning up across the country last night. Over 1.8 million votes – an increase of nearly 40 per cent compared to last year – were cast following yesterday’s Canadian Idol episode, propelling Amber Fleury and Rex Goudie into the Canadian Idol Top 10. Fleury, 26, a paralegal from Calgary, AB and Goudie, 19, a student and part-time mechanic from Burlington, NL become the fifth and sixth members of the Top 10 after 1.7 million watched last night.* Canadian Idol’s Top 10 now
has representation from British Columbia, Alberta, Northern and Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Four competitors from the Greater Toronto Area were shut out.
In tonight’s live broadcast, host Ben Mulroney announced that Fleury, Goudie and Winnipeg’s Barrett Peitsch, 23 had received the most votes following
last night’s Top 32 performance episode. With all three competitors sitting in the Idol hot seats, Mulroney announced that Fleury had received the most votes. After Fleury reprised her performance of Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me, Mulroney then announced that it was Goudie who would take the remaining Top 10 spot for his rendition of Blue Rodeo’s After The Rain.
Peitsch was third and was eliminated from the competition, along with five others.
Four additional Top 10 competitors will be decided by the Canadian public over the next two weeks. Fleury and Goudie join previously announced Top 10 finalists Daryl Brunt (16, from Sudbury, ON), Casey LeBlanc (17, from Nackawic, NB), Ashley Leitao (18, from Burnaby, BC) and Emily Vinette (17, from Ottawa, ON). The finalists return to Canadian Idol on Tuesday, July 19 in the first live, Top 10 performance show.
Peitsch and the other five competitors eliminated tonight still have a shot at the Top 10. Spots in the July 12 Wild Card episode that will determine the final two positions are still up for grabs. Canadian Idol’s fourth and final group of Top 32 competitors take to the stage next Tuesday, July 5 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CTV.
