Murtzcellanious: LIVE Canadian Idol Recap – June 28

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I was excited as I arrived at the Trinity Studios for the first results show. I wondered if we were going to see tears. Sue Brophy appeared to do her usual spiel and warmed the audience up before the show began.

Host Ben Mulroney then introduced the judges and welcomed Farley Flex back from his absence the night before (where he was at his daughter’s Grade 8 graduation). Farley kept screaming “Honour Roll.”

Ben also said that the Idol pianist, Marc Lalama was absent. I didn’t think him not being there really meant anything considering the Idol’s would not be singing. Because four of them would be eliminated, I knew that they wouldn’t all be able to have a swan song in thirty minutes.

The show began and I noticed that the Top 11 male contestants were seated on the couch while the Top 11 female contestants were in the audience.

The back row of the men:

Nathan, Greg, Craig, Brandon, Rob and Keith.

The front row of the men:

Koz, Chris, Tyler, Sheldon and Chad.

This obviously meant that two from each row would be poll the lowest and then one male from each of those would be eliminated. I figured that Nathan and Greg were the most likely candidates from the back row and Tyler and Sheldon were the most likely candidates from the front row.

Ben opened the show by saying that 2 million votes were cast and that they would be saying goodbye to four. He also reintroduced the judges for the benefit of the TV audience and then introduced a recap of the two performance shows.

Then it was time to start making the Top 22 into the Top 18. As suspected, the bottom four would be asked to come to the stage from the couch.

NATHAN: BOTTOM 4
GREG: SAFE
CRAIG: SAFE
BRANDON: SAFE
ROB: BOTTOM 4
KEITH: SAFE
CHAD: SAFE
SHELDON: BOTTOM 4
TYLER: SAFE
CHRIS: SAFE
KOZ: BOTTOM 4

I didn’t see Rob James and Koz polling the lowest. I have to say that I was a little surprised by their inclusion, but I thought that Nathan and Sheldon would still be going home. I did like the fact that Rob was in the bottom, because as I have said many times, there is no way he belongs in this competition. While I had concerns about Chris Labelle, I knew that his Hoggard-impression would at least buy him another week.

Commercial.
During the break, the girls and guys switched places.

The back row of the girls: Eva, Steffi, Valerie, Ashley Coles, Ashley Coulter

The front row of the men: Alisha, Kati, Ana-Belle, Alyssa, Nancy

I figured it would be Steffi and Valerie from the back row and Alyssa and Nancy (unfortunately) from the front row.

EVA: SAFE
SARAH: SAFE
STEFFI: BOTTOM 4
VALERIE: BOTTOM 4
ASHLEY COLES: SAFE
ASHLEY COULTER: SAFE
NANCY: SAFE
ALYSSA: BOTTOM 4
ANA-BELLE: BOTTOM 4
KATI: SAFE
ALISHA: SAFE

That meant our bottom eight was Rob, Koz, Sheldon, Nathan, Steffi, Valerie, Alyssa, Ana-Belle and Kati.

During the commercial, the bottom 4 consoled each other.

My prediction was that Sheldon, Nathan, Alyssa and Valerie would be going home.

When the show returned, it was time to show the judges predictions.

Zack: Koz, Sheldon, Ashley Coles, and Alyssa
Jake: Missed his!
Sass: Sheldon, Nathan, Alyssa, and Ana-Belle
Farley: Rob and Sheldon

Ben then said that one male and one female would be sent back to safety. For the guys it was Sheldon and for the ladies it was Steffi.

I was shocked that Sheldon made it! Stunned actually. He was the one I was sure about. But once again, we have to realize that he hails from Alberta which is a voting powerhouse (either that or they are really really bored). Melissa O’Neil, Kalan Porter, and Billy Klippert all came from there.

Conversely, Rob James and Jeremy Koz both came from Winnipeg and probably split their provinces results.

On the girls side, it was quite clear that Quebec was not voting the way the rest of Canada was. Too many jokes that I could make about that one, so I will just leave it alone.

After a commercial, it was time for the results.

Rob James was safe.

Nathan and Koz were eliminated.

For the girls, Alyssa was safe.

Valerie and Ana-Belle were eliminated.

Valerie: “I will continue to sing.”

Ana-Belle: “I never have regrets in my life. I am going to do it further.”

Nathan: “We’ll be back.”

Koz: “It was an incredible experience.”

Zack: It’s about motivating people to vote who watch this show.

Farley: Song selection for some of them. We say it over and over.

Sass: You went for it. Good on you.

Jake: It’s been mentioned, but the reality is you have to pick the right song for your voice. It’s all about song selection.

And we’re out. The Canadian Idol insanity continues next week. Will Murtz make it to every show? Stay tuned.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.