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September 15-16 - "Awaken The Dream": Theresa vs. Kalan

Theresa or Kalan? Saskatchewan or Alberta? Easy listening or hard rock? You get the idea.

The other eight members of the top ten are back in town (because we'll see them in the grande finale). Tonight each player will sing three songs. I had read that Theresa's got a cold right now, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Ben asks each of the singers if they could originally have imagined getting this far, and they of course said "no".

We start the show by seeing that Jon took our duo to perform at Beachfest (a free labour day concert here in Toronto). Kalan sings "Born to Be Wild" while Theresa takes on "Cruisin'".

Theresa is the first to take on "Awaken the Dream", the first Idol single that will be released to Canadian radio stations merely hours after the finale. When she starts up it doesn't sound like it's her type of song but she doesn't do that bad of a job with it.

Jake: You delivered the passion as if you wrote it yourself.
Farley: At this point it's very important that you take on everything that's thrown your way. and this time you definitely did.

Benbot comments that Theresa takes any compliment fairly that comes her way.

Kalan is up next and is singing "I Can Only Imagine". He takes it on with a soft, soulful touch. He starts slow but picks up nicely when the time is appropriate. I still think he's a bit stiff though!

Sass: You pulled some more Medicine out of your Hat again.
Zack: It's going to be a bumpy ride, and that was tedious.

See, he's from Medicine Hat, so...

Ben goes on about babbling on the judges' part - something that he does too much!

Theresa is immediately up next singing "Come Away with Me" which is now pretty much part of the Idol stable up here in North. The one thing that I notice is that she does it slightly more up-tempo than it normally is played.

Farley: When your right shoulder bounces... you like the song!
Zack: I'm glad you did something that was about it. I know whose album is going to be in my player all the time.

Benbot moves back on stage and talks about "crystallized moments". Yep. I'm not sad to see him go for another year.

Kalan comes back for round two with his "secret weapon" - that being "Born to Be Wild". As always he does a quality job but I look forward to the time when he can do his OWN rock songs.

Jake: That performance without a doubt was the most rocking thing you've ever done!
Sass: I love the juxtaposition of you singing "Born to Be Wild"

We're spared the Benchat.

Back from the break, Jon introduces us to the cast of "Instant Star", which is a dramatic series about a girl who wins an Idol-type competition. Gee... I wonder why she's on this show promoting her show? Hmm.

Theresa comes back with her choice of the summer: "Cruisin'". She puts the glasses back on and she nails it. Not that there was any kind of question!

Jake: By next summer we'll be "Cruisin'" to your album.
Zack: If it was me, I'd have gone for the throat, in your case you presented them with the music that you want to put on an album.

She lets a sigh of relief. because now she can do no more!

And guess who's left? Yep, it's Kalan. And now it's his turn to sing "Awaken the Dream". It seems a little less suited to him than it does to Theresa but he puts his own Kalan spin on it. Really though when it comes down to it, isn't the Idol supposed to sing anything?

Farley: You took ownership of the song, you did well.
Sass: I love it when you kick it up a notch into Killer Kalan territory.

And now. GRAND FINALE RESULTS!

We start the last show of the season with the top 10 doing a medley while my satellite dish starts having a seizure, only showing either the picture or lyrics at any given time. The medley is of classic hits of the 60's and the 70's to start and then progresses into... well, more hits of the same time. Ultimately the picture freezes on Jacob Hoggard which is slightly spooky.

Apparently Ray Romano is a fan too and gives a shout out. Other Canadian Idol rejects interview people on the street (Ryan-gram: alas, 01679 from St. John's was NOT invited, and we must say he is VERY DISAPPOINTED!!).

My dish finally kicks back in, and we see that Theresa's fans are all out in Saskatoon - 6500 of them in fact! I would imagine that Kalan has a bunch of people out in Medicine Hat as well.

We get to see the road that Kalan and Theresa took to get to this point, going all the way back to the top 32 play downs. Kalan won his group and so did Theresa.

And now because this week we have to fill TWO HOURS, everyone gets to do their favourite songs. Josh Seller sings "Iris". Manoah Hartmann sings "Hallejuah". Brandy Callahan sings "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here". Kaleb Simmonds chooses "Hound Dog". Elena Juatco channels Alanis with "Mary Jane". Shane Wiebe croons a Gordon Lightfoot turn that I don't know. Jason Greeley is all dressed up and is singing "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (and goes through the audience, shaking hands with Sass and a couple of other staff members). Crazy Jacob Hoggard sings a rock ballad and hasn't lost a step since getting knocked out last week. We see last year's runner up, Gary Beals in the audience.

At this point last year we had the winner of AI2 sing (Mr. Studdard) but this time we've got our own CI champ to sing. This time he has come with guitar and he will have to hand over his tiara...

Whoops, wrong show. He does get to rock out on the guitar so he's not doing that bad, because in essence that should have been what he should have be last year. His singing however...

In the audience we see that Ralph Goodale, the Minister of Finance is in the audience. Only in Canada.

Ryan comments that he really likes his new song... which means a new album. I'm curious to know if it will fly off the shelf or sit next to the new Billy Klippert album. Hmm...

We're not even done the first hour and again it's time for another top 10 medley. NEXT!

Time for more flashbacks. We get to see the two finalists reflecting on their time on the idol stage saying things like "It took a lot of work" and "we could barely ever hear the judges" and that "the hardest thing was when someone gets voted out on the Thursday".

The top 10 comes back for a third time (!) and this time is singing a classic song from the Guess Who, while a travelogue scene that looks like it was pinched from Wheel of Fortune plays in the back. Additionally Kaleb's singing still grates on me.

Following the break we get to see the original tryouts of Kalan and Theresa. Jake says that originally they thought he was 12. But he was 18, and he made it through. Kalan sings a song to inspire all of us. In fact it's Muskrat Love!

No, not really. I'm not sure what it is. Wait, I think it's called "Christine" or something like that.

The never ending show continues. Theresa's first audition filled the room with "sweetness" and Zack got up and gave her a hug. One of her final songs that she will sing tonight will be "Good Mother" which she's previously done before.

FINALLY we get to the end after the idols sing Phil Collins' "True Colors". And our winner is...

KALAN PORTER! He never made it into the "bottom three or two" the whole season and looked like he ran away with it. Ben says that he is such a good person and he deserves it 100%. Kalan thanks the parents, the judges, the top 10, CTV, Insight Productions, Donald Trump, the phone company, and Mr. Belvedere.

Well, not the last three...

Kalan sings us out on "Awaken the Dream" and that wraps up season two of Canadian Idol.

I'd like to say thank you to all the staff at gameshownewsnet.com, especially Gordon and Chico who put up with my general craziness more than others!

Thank you as well to CTV for putting on this show, Insight Productions for making it go so smoothly, and the wonderful staff at St. John's on February 29 who lent their time to see 281 hopefuls try to realize their dreams.

For gameshownewsnet.com, CBC Radio One, and CHMR St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, I'm Ryan Vickers - Idol hopeful 01769.