Canadian Idol

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Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol Title Card
Genre	Interactive reality game show
Creator(s)	Simon Fuller
Starring	Ben Mulroney Jon Dore (2003-2005) Sass Jordan Farley Flex Zack Werner Jake Gold
Country of origin	Canada
No. of episodes	26 (season 1) 33 (season 2) 33 (season 3) 33 (season 4)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Brunton Barbara Bowlby
Running time	Varies
Broadcast
Original channel	CTV
Original run	June 1, 2003 – Present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Canadian Idol is a reality television show on the Canadian television network CTV, based on the popular British show Pop Idol and its American counterpart American Idol. The show is a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada. It is hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons (appearing in comedy skits throughout the show). Elena Juatco assumed the role for season four, and Dave Kerr will assume the role for season five.

The show begins with a cross-Canada tour in which singers audition in front of four judges: Jake Gold, Sass Jordan of Montreal, Quebec, Zack Werner of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Farley Flex of Ajax, Ontario. Eventually the performers are narrowed down to 10 finalists (11 in season one due to a near-tie), with each competitor performing live. Viewers have two hours following the broadcast of the show to phone in their votes for their favourite competitor. On the following night's episode (live again), the competitor with the fewest votes is sent home. After the final two perform, viewers have more than two hours to vote. The next day (or five days later in season 4), the competitor with the most votes is declared the winner. The show is taped at the John Bassett Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.

[edit] Season one

Main article: Canadian Idol (Season 1)

Ryan Malcolm's Debut Album, Home.

In the first season, which debuted on June 9, 2003, Ryan Malcolm of Kingston, Ontario won, with Gary Beals of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia coming in second. Malcolm released his debut album entitled "Home" in October 2003, which included his first single from Canadian Idol: "Something More". In fact, eight members of the Season One Top 11 have released their own solo albums, including Gary Beals, Billy Klippert, Audrey De Montigny, Jenny Gear, Toya Alexis, Mikey Bustos, and Karen-Lee Batten. Auditions were held in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax, and St. John's.

[edit] Season two

Main article: Canadian Idol (Season 2)

The second season of Canadian Idol debuted on June 1, 2004, and became the most watched show in Canada, drawing in over 3 million viewers each week.

Auditions were held in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax, Regina, and St. John's. The season provided an Idol first when the final six contestants played their own instruments during a group performance of the Gordon Lightfoot classic "Canadian Railroad Trilogy". No other Idol show in the world had done that before, and the performance is generally considered the best group number ever to appear on Idol.

Kalan Porter of Medicine Hat, Alberta won the series, and Theresa Sokyrka of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was the runner-up. In November 2004, merely two months after the competition, Porter released his debut album entitled 219 Days - the number days spanning from his first audition to the release of his CD. Other Competitors from Season Two's Top 10 who have released albums include: Sokyrka, Jacob Hoggard (an album with his band Hedley), Jason Greeley, Shane Wiebe, and Joshua Seller.

Kalan Porter's debut album, 219 Days.

[edit] Season three

Main article: Canadian Idol (Season 3)

In December 2004, CTV announced that they would be producing a third season of Canadian Idol in 2005. Auditions began in February and finished in April 2005 and the show debuted May 30, just days after the conclusion of the fourth season of American Idol but did not follow suit yet on the new change to that show.

Auditions were held in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg, London, Sudbury, Saskatoon, St. John's, Moncton, Charlottetown, Sydney, and Whitehorse.

This season introduced a twist in the Wildcard semi-final round. On the group 4 results show, after the results were revealed, 11 previous competitors were brought out. (CTV had advertised the broadcast as having 12 competitors, but one dropped out at the last minute.) The judges expressed how they felt about each competitor, and each competitor had a chance to show why they should sing in the Wildcard, whether it be through song or a plea. Then, the public had a chance to vote which would decide which of the 11 competitors would sing in the Wildcard.

After the closest final vote of the 3 up to that point, Melissa O'Neil of Calgary, Alberta was crowned the winner; with Rex Goudie of Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador the runner-up. Melissa O'Neil, Rex Goudie, Aaron Walpole, and Suzi Rawn have released albums; while Casey LeBlanc, Ashley Leitao and Amber Fleury have released an album as a group called Braided. Josh Palmer is also working on an album release.

Melissa O'Neil's Self-Titled Debut Album.

Left To Right: Farley Flex, Ben Mulroney (top), Sass Jordan (bottom), Jon Dore (top), Zack Werner (bottom), and Jake Gold. Jon Dore was replaced by Elena Juatco in Season 4.

[edit] Season four

Main article: Canadian Idol (Season 4)

Wikinews has news related to:

Eva Avila crowned winner of Canadian Idol

In January 2006, CTV announced their plans for a fourth season of Canadian Idol. An 11-week audition tour took place in February, March and April 2006. Auditions were held in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Kitchener-Waterloo, Halifax, Regina, St. John's, and Yellowknife. Season two competitor Elena Juatco joined the show as the roving reporter, while Jon Dore did not return for the fourth season. The season premiered on May 29, five days after the finale of American Idol Season 5. The season finale of Canadian Idol took place on Sunday, September 17, 2006. The finale, originally scheduled for Tuesday, September 12, was moved to help resolve a conflict with ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars', which CTV also carried and which ABC announced would debut September 12. Eva Avila took the title in the closest final vote of the 4 to date; CTV announced that 3.3% -- which amounted to 131,000 votes -- separated her from Newfoundland's Craig Sharpe.

On Saturday, September 16, 2006, a day prior to the public announcement of the Idol results, Sony BMG Music Entertainment began offering Avila's version of the first single, Meant to Fly, for sale on the website EvaAvila.com. Although the page was subsequently blanked, the artwork for the single can currently be located within the image files of the webpage.[1] This occurrence led to the creation of many rumours regarding the winner of the competition.

Both Avila's and Sharpe's singles were made available for pre-order for the September 26, 2006 release date on Amazon.com. As of March 2007, both Avila ('Somewhere Else') and Sharpe ('I Am') had released albums; Brandon Jones' debut, "All for You", launches June 5, 2007.

Eva Avila's Debut Album, Somewhere Else.

[edit] Season five

Main article: Canadian Idol (Season 5)

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

In December 2006, CTV announced the plans for the fifth season of Canadian Idol. It will start off in Vancouver on February 3, and will visit nine more cities across Canada in a 10-week trip. This year, the network announced that the auditioners can play along with their instrument in their audition, making it the second Idol program in the world to do so after Australian Idol 2006. The network also indicated that Dave Kerr will replace Elena Juatco in the co-hosting role for Season Five.

[edit] Canadian Idol Series Facts

• Two out of four of the Canadian Idol winners have been from Alberta: Kalan Porter (Season 2; Medicine Hat) and Melissa O'Neil (Season 3; Calgary).
• With his second place finish in 2006, Craig Sharpe became the second consecutive Newfoundlander to finish second. There has been a Newfoundlander in the top 5 in every Canadian Idol season to date.
• Only 2 Quebecers have made it to the Top 10: Eva Avila, the winner of the fourth series and Audrey DeMontigny, a season 1 contestant. It is assumed that many Quebecers don't even tune into the series since it is not televised in French, although auditions have been held in Montreal in each season. One CTV executive stated that there are more people in Newfoundland watching Idol than in Quebec, even though Quebec has 7 million more people.^{[citation needed]}
• Season 4 had the closest deciding vote in Canadian Idol finale history. 3.3 percent separated the winner, Eva Avila, from runner-up Craig Sharpe.
• Shane Wiebe from Season 2 and Steffi D from season 4 are the only contestants to have been in the bottom three or two five times, with each bowing out in 5th place.
• Judge Sass Jordan and vocal coach Debra Byrd (also seen in American Idol) performed in the finale of Season 3, becoming two of the few Idol judges to perform on any Idol stage (the New Zealand Idol judges performed at both the Season 1 and 2 Grand Finals, the first of which occurred prior to the Grand Final of Canadian Idol 3). That was also Byrd's first performance on an Idol show.
• Only three women (Theresa Sokyrka, Eva Avila and Melissa O'Neil) have made it to the top 3. Season 1 had no women in the top 3.
• Canadian Idol Season 2 finalist Jacob Hoggard and his band Hedley is the only contestant in Canadian Idol to sign with an American label, Capitol Records. Their self-titled debut album was released in the United States in September 2006.
• The record for the highest vote total is 4.3 million., during the Top 4/Top 3 results show in Season 4.
• Only three contestants have received a standing ovation from all the judges: Jacob Hoggard, in season 2 during his encore performance of I Want You to Want Me, Amber Fleury, in season 3, during the top 32 round, and Eva Avila on the Season 4 performance finale.
• Kalan Porter, Season 2's winner, is the only Canadian Idol winner that had never been in the bottom 2 or 3.
• Jacob Hoggard was the only contestant to have all four judges comment on his departure AND give him positive wishes for the future.
• American Idol Winner Ruben Studdard performed his hit single "Flying Without Wings" on the Canadian Idol first season finale; Many other American Idol finalists have also appeared on the show.

[edit] External links

• Canadian Idol Official Website

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