Last week, I had the privilege of checking out Canadian Idol backstage. As part of my experience, I got a chance to talk to the final four contestants hours before they heard the results of who would be moving on and who would be eliminated. My next chat was with Lethbridge Alberta’s Theo Tams.
Murtz Jaffer: Ready to rock?
Theo Tams: Yeah.
MJ: Bare-bones, you are the favorite to win this competition. Yes or no?
TT: (Pauses). I don’t know.
MJ: Because everybody that I have talked to has said you. Even in my interviews with the people that have been kicked off. They have all said, “Theo, Theo, Theo.” It seems to be a running theme and I wanted to know if you heard that trend or if you try not to listen to it when you do?
TT: I have heard it, but for my own sanity I can’t focus on it. Just because I have to take it one performance at a time. Weirder things have happened. I didn’t think that Amberly was going to go, I really didn’t think that Mookie was going to go and he went so this show’s just so unpredictable.
MJ: You have to level with me in the sense where when you see somebody like Amberly or Mookie go, I mean obviously you’re sad and that you’re friends, I know the politically-correct answer and that’s what everybody always says but is there any part of you that’s like ‘wow, we just lost two big horses that could have won this competition.’ Is there any part of you that’s glad or does it not even phase what you’re doing?
TT: It doesn’t really phase me because me and Mookie, because we’re all so different that we don’t even really compete against each other in that sense. If you’re someone who is really driven to win just so that you can say that you won, that’s always a good when people go and I said from Day 1 that when I started my audition in Calgary in February, I was in for the long-run. I wasn’t there to go home but I mean it still sucks to see people leave.
MJ: What is it about Alberta because Alberta seems to have… it’s like every year I know that I am going to be here. Every year I know that I am going to be doing the interviews. And the third thing that I know is that final four or final three, there will be somebody from Alberta sitting on this couch. Melissa O’Neil, Kalan Porter, Jaydee Bixby. Now you. Earl. What is it?
TT: (Laughs). I think it’s just that everybody expects Alberta to be really country and I don’t think that we necessarily are. Like Jaydee Bixby is a really great example of somebody who is really artistic but is still in the country roots but there’s so much more that goes on there. I think that because it is like very country-dominated, if you’re not going to do country you really have to step up and work your butt off to make a name for yourself kind of thing so I think that’s why Alberta is always really well-represented is because we feel like we might have a little more to prove especially if we’re not going to be doing country.
MJ: If I went to Alberta, would I just see people just singing Idol songs on the street because that’s kind of what I am thinking.
TT: Yeah (laughs). There are some really big fans there.
MJ: I can see that. I am really interested to know more about the backstage process because a lot of people watch the show and they don’t really know how much work goes into the behind-the-scenes of it. Like last night, there was one point where there were like 3 people working on you. One fixing your hair, one fixing your mic, one fixing your collar… was that hard for you to get used to?
TT: It’s very easy to shake you up especially right before you have to go on. But that’s why I make sure that I do continue to relax backstage. Talking to Earl or talking to someone. They do whatever they need to do but I just have to stay in my zone. I’m someone who can get distracted really easily so especially before a performance, my mind is just going crazy so I try to stay focused as much as I can.
MJ: Tell me about the obsession with scarves.
TT: It’s so funny! I like really didn’t think that people would talk about it that much.
MJ: I gotta tell you because when Christy (the PR liaison) brought you in here, I was like ‘no, bring the real Theo because I don’t see that guy wearing any scarves!
TT: I think it’s because when I lived in India, I just wore scarves all the time there. I was kind of tapping into my inner hippie side and ever since I came back, I just haven’t lost it. It’s more just out of habit. I am not trying to make a fashion statement or anything. It’s more just out of habit. They have become like a security blanket for me on the show.
MJ: All the ones that we see on the show are they all yours?
TT: Yeah.
MJ: How many do you think you have?
TT: Probably… I don’t have like that many. Close to 20 or 25. (Laughs).
MJ: I once interviewed this girl from American Idol and she was known to have a lot of shoes. I am like ‘how many shoes do you have, can you estimate’ and she was like ‘not that many’ just like you just did. So then she’s like only about 170 pairs.
TT: (Laughs). That’s a lot.
MJ: What has been your favorite performance this season? I personally liked the One Republic.
TT: I think my favorite would be a tie between “Collide” and “Sweet Ones.” Those are two my favorites. I got to do what I was about which was like at the piano. “Collide” is just a song that I feel like I wrote. I just connect with it so much. The Sarah Slean song was just a perfect opportunity for me to prove to the judges that I can still sit behind the piano and be a showman as well because they were having a problem with me being really internal behind the piano and I really wanted to show them that yeah, I am sitting behind the piano but I am not hiding behind it.
MJ: Were you laughing when they did that TSN recap of the performances and the turning point was you kicking the bench?
TT: Oh, that was so funny!
MJ: That was one of the funniest things that I have ever seen on the show.
TT: It was hilarious.
MJ: When you got on this Idol, I am sure you expected there to be an even split between girls and guys just like it is every Idol show and every Idol season. When there were more guys, did it influence how you went into the competition?
TT: I think it just made me realize moreso than I had originally thought about it before… is just how much you have to trust your own instincts. Because if you’re going to be different because you know that you’re different. It’s not because you’re trying to be. And I think that just having self-knowledge and self-awareness because I am not like any of the other guys left in the competition. I wasn’t really like any of them when we were on the show before. That’s the strengths of the four people who are left. They really found a way to be different and maybe something that Idol hadn’t seen before.
MJ: Who do you think is going to win? And who do you think is going to be in the final two. And none of this ‘oh anybody can win… we all love each other.’
TT: That’s a tough question. I think that Earl is probably going to win.
MJ: Not if you guys split the Alberta vote.
TT: I think that Earl’s probably going to win and I think Drew is going to come in second. Just the way that voting has been going and the way that Drew has really been stepping up his game. I am hoping to be in the finale and I am going to work my butt off to make sure that happens but this show is very unpredictable and I have been in the bottom three before. You can be in the top one week and sent home the next.
MJ: What is the one behind-the-scenes aspect that would shock people to find out the most?
TT: The biggest thing that people don’t realize is just how much work it is. I was shocked. I just thought I was going to come out here and sing a couple of songs, meet some cool people. We put in long long days. I don’t think I have ever been this tired. The last couple of weeks especially because I think you’re just so physically drained but like mentally it just takes a toll on you. Just all the pressure. I am just so excited for the finale, whether I am in it or not. Just so that we can take everything we learned and start using it because the next two weeks are just going to be a gong show.
MJ: That’s perfect, thank you so much.
TT: Thank you!
