Malaysian Idol 02-11, Airdate: 17/07/2005 – Workshop #3 Result Show

(Image courtesy of malaysianidol.bluehyppo.com)

Nick’s Picks: Trish, Intan & Farah

After being redeemed by one of the best groups of contestants seen to date, the result show opens tonight with the usual chatter from our two hosts, Jien and Cheryl. For those on Jien hair-watch tonight (I know you’re out there!), the dead thing on his head is not actually dead yet because it was seen tonight trying to crawl across Jien’s forehead. I liked it better when he had his hair off his brow. Stay tune next week to see if Jien manages to escape from the hairstyle that will not die!

BTW ... Cheryl flubbed her lines again tonight. I think that this makes three times now she flubbed it in as many shows. I wonder if it is just nervousness or she was just rushing through the lines to get to the end of the show.

After the customary judges comment and contestants’ interview, they showed the usual filler segments while the results are being tallied. The segment tracked the progress of these contestants from the auditions to the workshop rounds. It was interesting to note that the producers left the shot of Yasir’s audition as is in but later filmed a different shot for his acceptance reaction for being selected. Eagle-eye viewers would find the transition more than just a bit jarring but I guess that not every one is ready to see a transgender person get this far in the show. I wonder if this is the first time in the Idol franchise that something like this happened.

Jien mentioned something about “nasi lemak” to Roslan before asking for his predictions tonight. From the Bluehyppo MI boards, I found out that Roslan was making “nasi lemak” references to the contestants performance all night when the show was taped but they got edited out by the producers in the aired version. I have to question why they would do this as this seemed to be a really fun detail to leave in as it differentiates Malaysian Idol from the other talent reality shows out there.

Judges picks (unanimous this week):
Roslan : Trish, Farah, Daniel
Jee: Trish, Farah, Daniel
Paul: Trish, Farah, Daniel

The contestants were called up to centerstage by rows this week and the first row consisted of Intan, Farah, Yasir, Daniel and Farish. Intan looked resigned to her fate as they read out her comments and true enough that she didn’t make it to the next round. Farah gets through next as the judges have predicted. Up next was Yasir who looked absolutely devastated, crushed and on the verge of tears when it was announced that he also did not make it through after all he has sacrificed to get this far.

We were left with two last people, Daniel & Farish, from the front row who were still waiting for their results. Cheryl jumped the gun by announcing that one of the two will get through to the next round. Even a casual viewer of the show can guess who it would be by just looking at the two who were left. To add insult to injury, they pulled a “result after the break” thing that Ryan Seacrest does on every result show on AI but with much less success. For that shtick to work, the audience need to feel vested in the two contestants still waiting and that there should be a sense that both had equal chance to snag the spot. The outcome for this pair was already been telegraphed a mile away when we went into commercials and it was Daniel that unsurprisingly squeaked through on the popularity vote. The talentless hack even had a smug grin plastered on his face the whole time as if it was amusing to him that anyone would think that he wouldn't get selected to go to the next round.

The last remaining three people who were called on to centerstage was Trish, Aeser and Kash. It was no surprise that Trish was called out as the last contestant from Friday’s show to move on to the spectaculars. She was just a class above the other two guys and there was no doubt that she will make it through based on last show’s performance.

There were no post selection comments from the judges as they were basically what the judges picked and the judges were already given a chance to have their say earlier in the show. While I have no problems about the selection of Trish and Farah, I have serious reservation about Daniel getting through. This is what happen when sweet little things, easily swayed by talentless song manglers they think are cute, have mobile phones with unlimited credit to vote in Malaysian Idol. This guy seriously have to step up his game in the show if he wants to be accepted as a viable contender in my books. Mumbling mealy mouth performance just won’t cut it from this point on. Other than Daniel, the other contestants from this workshops would be the ones to watch out in the spectaculars.

I’m not sure how they are going to do it but it seems that next week all 15 of the contestants who were cut in the workshops will battle it out among themselves to get a chance to secure one of the six places in the wildcard round. I wonder if they will let all 15 contestants sing and the viewers vote for the top 6 to go through the wildcards. While that would mean an extra show to be voted on, I have a feeling that they will get all 15 to practice their songs the whole of next week and the judges will at the beginning of next week’s show select the 6 who will actually get to perform in front of the audience as the wildcard contestants. If they do end up doing what I think they would then it would be a bit harsh to the 9 not selected but then again do we really need to hear the few real stinkers from the cut group again?

At this point, we also don’t know how many from the wildcard round will be selected from to move on to the spectaculars. The rumors on the board are saying that only one of the 6 wildcard contestants will get to go through. I guess that we have to just wait and see.

Final results: Farah, Daniel & Trish
Nick’s prediction success to date : 6/9