Cdn. Idol fails to wow World judges
LONDON (CP) — If Canada’s Ryan Malcolm wins World Idol, it looks like he’ll have to do it against the odds — again.
The former waiter from Kingston, Ont., who came back from the pop idol dead after being voted off the Canadian version of the show last summer, failed to wow the experts with his performance on World Idol, broadcast Christmas Day on CTV.
Ben Mulroney, host of the Canadian program, announced during the show that auditions will be held in nine cities for Canadian Idol 2. The cities are Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and St. John’s, Nfld., and auditions will take place from mid-February through April.
After performing He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, Malcolm was criticized by the judges for his awkward dance moves and lack of passion.
“Sincerity was just a little light,” British judge Pete Waterman said at a taping of the show last week.
But Canadian judge Zack Werner said he admired the job done by Malcolm, who got back into the Canadian Idol contest as a wildcard entry after being voted off the program. “You should be proud of what you did,” he said.
Malcolm was competing against 10 other Idol winners from around the world. The show broadcast on CTV was taped in London, where the first Pop Idol program was aired two years ago before becoming a global TV success from Australia to Norway.
Various versions of the program were shown for each television market where national winners of the talent contest were selected. Each of the 11 countries involved in World Idol had their own voting systems to determine the winner in their country. Points were then allocated to each contestant based on where they finished in the voting.
All the performers got the maximum 12 points available to them in their own countries, which couldn’t vote for their homegrown winner. The remaining points were then assigned based on where the contestants finished in the voting.
That means in Canada, viewers couldn’t vote for Malcolm, but he automatically got 12 points. The winner of the Canadian vote got 10 points for finishing first, the second place finisher got nine points with the scale dropping by one for each finishing place down to one point for 10th.
The winner will be announced New Year’s Day on CTV between 9 and 10 p.m. ET in a show taped earlier that day in London.
The Christmas Day broadcast of World Idol often bordered on the zany as the judges — whose over-the-top personalities play a large role in Idol’s success — argued over the quality of the performances.
Polish judge Kuba Wojewodzski was a popular target among his fellow judges at the taping, especially after he took a shot at British Idol Will Young, who sang Light My Fire by The Doors.
“You looked like Mr. Bean singing Jim Morrison,” said the wild-haired Wojewodzski. “If I was part of the Morrison family, I’d sue you.”
Werner joined Wojewodzski in dismissing Young’s performance. “The Bee Gees doing The Doors doesn’t work for me,” he said.
But in a rare moment for the panel of music industry experts, they were left almost speechless by Diana Karazon, 20, who won the Super Star competition spanning 22 Arab countries. After singing the Arabic love song Ensani Ma Binsak, the judges agreed it was difficult to comment on a song they didn’t understand.
“It wasn’t spine tingling, but I enjoyed it, whatever it was,” said Werner.
In interviews before the show was taped, the contestants described World Idol as a chance to build on the success they have had in their own countries.
“I’m a little less worried about winning,” said Malcolm, who went to No. 1 in the Top 40 charts in Canada with his first single Something More. “I think just the exposure itself is a great thing.”
There is no prize for winning the show. Winners of the national Idol contests received record deals and career guidance from the management company owned by Spice Girls’ founder Simon Fuller, who created the formula for the show.
American Idol Kelly Clarkson, a recent Grammy nominee, said the beauty of World Idol is the many cultures it crosses.
“A lot of countries, not just America but other countries, you know you don’t look outside the box, you only listen to what your culture kind of listens to,” she said.
Although Clarkson was arguably the biggest star of the show given her success since winning American Idol, her performance of You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman left Werner unmoved.
That caused American judge Simon Cowell, a Briton known for his caustic comments, to fly into Werner in one of the most memorable moments from the taping.
“You are not fit to judge this girl,” Cowell said to the Canadian judge as he called Clarkson the performer to beat in the contest.
“The gulf between these singers is enormous. . . . I honestly don’t know why I’m here.”
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