Sing-Along Idol time. Among the 10 include an effeminate Malay guy who calls himself "Sherry" (F****T!!!), Sezairi's mum, Tabitha's younger sister named Serene, Mae's best friend DJ and a young boy who sang "Billie Jean".
Judges for this interactive segment are Justin Jap, Farhan Shah, Gabrielle Ferdinands and Iskandar Sa'ad.
Gurmit, Faizal and Charles being surrounded by tons of fans as part of live footage for Ch 5 News.
The Top 9 get on stage for the Results Show, while the judges return to their seats... in 30 minutes time, the number will dwindle down from 9 to 8.
Presenting the Top 8... sialah, really 4 guys and 4 girls now.
Amira came out the earliest obviously
Sylvia came out soon after... couldn't take pic with her due to overwhelming response
Some 5 minutes after Sylvia left, the others came out.
Faizal surrounded by family, friends and supporters
Me with Tabitha
Me with Malaque
Me with Charles
Me with Justin outside the building
Warning... long post ahead!!!
Wah sei, never thought that I would be reliving Idol days in MediaCorp reception (though the feeling is a lot different from last time)... and what better way than to be rooting for the Idols at the Mosh Pit!! :-)
1800 to 1945 hrs: I took taxi to MediaCorp after knocking off from work at 6 pm yesterday... then upon reaching, I met up with Ishardi and we got our sector seat tickets from the person in charge of the tix. The wait in the good old parking lot wasn't very long actually, but soon after we got seated at the upper gallery, we got a phone call from the same person, saying that she got extra mosh pit tickets to give away. Knowing that it would be easier to take pictures from the lower gallery, we went out to the parking lot, received the mosh pit tickets, and queued up for a second time... ta-da, we are now located at the lower gallery!! :-)
2000 to 2100 hrs: Performance show begins. Gurmit started off the show alone, and Hady is still receovering from God-knows-what-illness. Still I think the show is better off without Hady. The better performers had gotta be Sylvia, Faizal and Tabitha. Charles, Duane and Sezairi did ok. Malaque and Amira's performances weren't so good, and although Mae's song to her friend was sincere and quite ok, her voice sounded very different (she recovered from sre throat). Ken Lim even made a cryptic remark that he felt Duane's performance was slightly better than Amira's (OOOOHHHH...). It was towards the end of the Spectaculars that I realized that Faizal was actually the very same Faizal that I befriended (along with his sister) during Singapore Idol 2 roadshows 3 years ago!!! Talk about sheer coincidence... :-O
2100 to 2200 hrs: "Sing-Along Idol" during the 1-hour time lapse between the Performance Show and Results Show. The wubbie brought out 10 fans from Mosh Pit or sector seats to showcase their vocal prowess, just to have fun. The guest judges were Justin Jap, Farhan Shah, Gabrielle Ferdinands (from the 2nd Piano Round), and Iskandar Saad (the official Idol blogger). That Ah Quah who was present at the roadshow at Plaza Singapura on Sunday was one of the contestants, he called himself "Sherry Tan" (urghhh!!) and he sang a song by Rihanna!! Among the other 9 fans included Tabby's sister Serene and Sezairi's mother. One young boy managed to get the fans standing up and clapping to "Billie Jean". At around 9.40 pm, Gurmit came out with Charles and Faizal... eventually they got surrounded by lots of people (waving banners) in preparation for the live footage for the Channel 5 news. Oh, and there was also a filming segment for the Top 8 Idols music video... everyone in the theater is part of it!! :-)
2200 to 2230 hrs: With all the Top 9 Idols on stage and performing a group item, it was down to Results, everyone could definitely feel the anxiety. First to be announced safe was Sezairi. Next were Faizal and Duane (damn!!!). At that time, I dunno whether to feel happy for Faizal, or angry for Duane... I guess I was more of the angry zone, cos I honestly felt that Duane should be in the unsafe zone, he does not have what it takes to be an Idol. When Tabitha, Malaque and Sylvia were announced to be safe, Ish and myself were very happy!! But the Bottom 3 consisted of Charles, Amira and Mae. And the one going home is... Amira. Oh dear, Top 8 now really consists of 4 guys and 4 girls. This is where the real suspense begins... will the elimination pace go the way of SI 1 (guy, gal, guy, gal), or SI 2 (3 gals eliminated in 3 straight weeks!!), or some new pattern like 2 guys out in consecutive weeks? Only time will tell...
2230 to 2320 hrs: I headed to reception to wait for the Idols. Ishardi went off first cos he had to sleep early (his lessons start at 9 in the morning). Earliest to come out was Amira obviously, got people go forward to take picture with her. Next was Sylvia, who drew a lot more people. I couldn't get to take pic with Sylvia due to the overwhelming crowd, and also cos she left rather quickly. Soon after, came the rest (except for Mae). I managed to take picture with Tabitha, Malaque, Charles and Justin. For autographs on the 8 days magazine, I got those from the aforementioned 4, as well as from Amira and Farhan. Due to my great dislike (not hate) towards Duane, I didn't go up to him to ask for autograph. There were so many people crowding around Faizal, it was impossible to get his autograph. So I left for the bus stop, but not before taking picture with Justin Jap oustide the building, and getting his autograph too. :-)
Reached Hougang South at 12.30 am, had late dinner there, and reached home sometime before 1 am. I might be requesting tickets for the Top 7 Spectaculars on November 4th, depending on the outcome of next week's show... so long as Tabitha is still in the competition. It was great to be part of the live recording plus music video for first time in 3 years, and it won't be my last ;-)
Some pictures to be uploaded in separate entry...
I was wise to hav chosen to head back home instead of waste time at Orchard Road from 7 to 9 pm, and then head to Radiogate at 10 plus to wait for the MDC celebs... cos that's what I initially planned to do, since the Project Hope charity show started at 8.30 pm and will end in a few minutes time. I mean look, I obviously need to take a rest after a busy day at work... moreover if I chose to go to Rg to wait for Nat or Joanne, that would just sound silly (esp since I have to report to work the next day). It will be even sillier if I were to take taxi back home after that. Work is my main priority for now, there's more to life than just chasing stars or going for roadshows on weekends... something I hadn't been doing so often nowadays. That's like disrespect for the victims of the recent earthquake in the Sotheast Asian region.
Speaking bout roadshows (or the lack thereof), it bummed me a great lot when I found out about the Charity Car Wash that is to take place at Dempsey Hill this coming Saturday, the birthday for a certain Princess whom I want to see again. Sigh, if only the event were held on Sunday instead of Saturday, then I confirm will be able to make it. I haf no choice but to give the entire event a miss, due to work in the entire afternoon. Won't be able to see First Class vs Fighting Spiders, Polo Boys vs FHM Gals, or even SI 3 Top 8 vs SI 2 alumni (arghhh!!!). I may be going to MediaCorp reception after knocking off from work though... is it all worth the sacrifice? Maybe so, given my current priorities i.e. my full-time job.
Still in the topic of MediaCorp... although I chose not to go there today, I will still be heading there on Wednesday evening!! I managed to win a pair of tickets for the live recording of Singapore Idol Top 9 Spectaculars!! YEAH BABY!!! :-D
