The first (and only?) series of Idols in South Africa has just ended, and for many has brought a merciful end to a show that will be remembered more for controversy than for its winner or any of the other talent unveiled. I thought readers of RealityNewsOnline may be interested in some of the drama behind this show, so what follows is a summary that I hope will bring out a bit of the flavor on what happened.

First, a bit of background. South Africa is country of about 40 million people, of which some five million are “whites” of European origin. Up until 1994, the “whites” held political and economic control under the notorious apartheid system. The transition to majority political rule took place a lot more peacefully than most dared hope, but race is still a big issue, and the white minority still has most of the economic policy, and a far higher standard of living on average than the black population.

South African got television very late (1976) due to the Jurassic mentality of the apartheid government of the day who believed it would corrupt the masses (the same government who took the Beatles off the airways for many years). When TV did start, it was heavily sanitized, although oddly enough I remember a show from the early 80s, which could have been seen as an early attempt at reality TV, where a number of “ordinary” people had to live like the original white settlers for a month or so. (Something like what I understand Frontier House did, although I haven’t seen this show).

“Current” reality TV hit South Africa in the second half of last year when the local version of Big Brother was run. Twelve housemates representing a wide variety of backgrounds had to live together for 106 days, which I believe is quite a long time by Big Brother standards. After housemates nominated two potential evictees, the public had to decide which nominee took the red carpet of shame. Big Brother seemed to run fairly successfully, and without too much controversy, given the potential there was for some, although the winner was known many weeks before the end, due to the way that the public was clearly voting.

So M-Net, the channel that ran Big Brother, must have thought Idols was a cinch after the huge success of the UK pilot. The format was simple. Regional auditions in four centers, best 100 as chosen by judges go through, top 100 go to Johannesburg where judges choose the top 50 semi-finalists. Top 50 are split into ten groups of five, each group of five performs on national TV, and public chooses best in that group to go through finals. Ten finalists come through, they perform in front of live audience, public then votes for finalists, and the two finalists with the lowest number of votes are eliminated each week, until there are two left. Final two then compete for public vote, and the winner is South Africa’s Idol. Seemed simple enough.

Things started fine, if a little bit lacking in vitality mostly due to the presenters who came across rather flatly. The first controversy occurred after the first semi-final group of five. Brandon was declared the winner, but second place Melanie was just a whisker behind in public vote. The organizers decided that the voting lines (phone and internet) had been closed a little early, and that the result was really too close to call. Both were then admitted to the finals, and the final 10 became the final 11.

Shortly after this, co-presenter Matthew Stewardson was admitted to a drug rehab clinic and had to be replaced. By now, the SA press was getting wind that things in the show weren’t going as swimmingly as they had hoped. However, things seemed to settle down a bit for the remainder of the semi-finalists, although it was clear that the demographic of the voting public was influencing the results somewhat. Looks seemed to be more of a factor than singing talent for many of the voting public, and the final 11 looked a bit more blonde than a representative group of South Africans probably should. Even so, there was a fair bit of talent in the final 11, possibly even more than the British top 10.

The final 11 were (I am giving their race reluctantly, but it would be hard to understand things otherwise):

• Brandon: Winner of first semi-final, black, smooth soul-oriented male.
• Melanie: Scraped into top 11 (see above), white blonde who looks a bit like that woman in Roxette.
• Cindy: White blonde, Britney Spears wannabe.
• Nicole: White blonde. Gave up her marriage to be an idol.
• Riaan: White blonde (male). Looks goofy.
• Bianca: Black blonde (I kid you not) but has real charisma, presence and vocal ability.
• David: White non-blonde. From Bloemfontein, where JRR Tolkein was born, and er… not much else has ever happened.
  Heinz: White blonde. Women seem to think he’s very handsome, but marginal singing talent.
• Ayanda: Black. The best pure singing talent. Created a minor controversy in the semi-final, when the lead judge (David) said he would sign her up for a record deal, which upset some in the public who said there was favoritism.
• Lyndle: Black, still at high school in Cape Town. Aged 17.
• Ezra: Black, all-round musician (plays guitars, write songs), has talent, but looks permanently stoned.

The fun started just before the first top 11 show, when it was revealed that Lyndle was a very young single mother. Rightly, this had nothing to do with her eligibility for her show or her talent, and she was allowed to continue, but this had already sharpened the journalist’s pens for more to come. As there was a top 11 instead of the planned 10, the first final elimination round would see the bottom three eliminated. Nicole, David, and Riaan were the first three finalists to go, a result which wasn’t that controversial, although many were surprised to see Melanie make it further, and some of Riaan’s fans were a bit upset. Co-presenter Candy began her weekly ritual of breaking into tears as finalists were eliminated.

So the following Sunday, the remaining eight sung for their supper, and the following day, we saw Cindy and Lyndle eliminated. Again, none too controversial, many were glad to see the Britney Spears wannabe out, and Lyndle was left to wonder if her “scandal” cost her, although to be honest, neither of her two final performances were too convincing.

The final six who remained seemed pretty balanced, three guy, three ladies, two whites, four blacks. However, the fun started on the final six show, with one of the judges (Penny) being accused of racism by knocking Heinz and Melanie. From my hopefully neutral perspective, this was a difficult one to call. To me, judge Penny (a DJ) was more superficial than racist, and Heinz was one of the more marginal talents remaining. However, the public surprised everyone by sending Ezra and Ayanda on their way. For me, Ezra was never completely convincing (and probably a bit too R&B for a pop idol) but Ayanda’s dismissal, as the best singer, was shocking. Even more surprising was Melanie’s continued survival after just barely making the final 11. For the first time, the press started grumbling that the public voting was less than fair, and that certain finalists must have had voting syndicates behind them who were automatically logging up votes by telephone by programming telephones to ring their candidate’s number continually. It was rumored that the big syndicates were backing the white remaining finalists, Melanie and Heinz, and it seemed clear that these two were getting the most votes.

It’s hard to say whether these two were getting votes via syndicates, or other reasons. As I said earlier, Heinz was a marginal talent, but he did have some appeal for the ladies (and, it is rumored, gay men), who seemed to be majority of those voting, a pattern also suggested by Big Brother. Melanie may have also got the underdog vote from those who felt the judges were treating her as the next one to go.

So the final four show was broadcast, with Heinz, Melanie, Brandon, and Bianca. Just before the show, M-Net announced that the final show in a week’s time would have three contestants, and not the previously planned two. No real reason was given, although it seemed clear that they could see the voting patterns, and wanted to avoid an “all-white” final. On the night, Brandon and Bianca were clearly the most convincing. Melanie was OK without being special, while Heinz sucked all the emotion out of “Every Breath You Take” and came out little better than a competent Karaoke performer. However, Judge Penny saved her venom for Melanie, and while it wasn’t as harsh as Susan Hawk’s “rat and the snake” classic, the gist was that Melanie wasn’t welcome in the final three, and had been swayed by public sympathy vote. Needless to say, Penny was accused of further racism.

Rumor was that Brandon would be out of the final three, but in the biggest shock so far, Bianca was the one denied a final three place. This was where the credibility of the show ended for me, as Bianca was the one talent who was really special, with a powerful voice, an all-round repertoire, and a sassy stage presence that could have made her an international hit. The news a few days later that Brandon was a single daddy made muted headlines around the country, after Bianca’s shocking goodbye.

The final show was an anti-climax. Although there were a few rumors that Melanie would win, I was pretty sure Heinz would be declared South Africa’s first idol, and so it was to be. The only slight surprise was Judge Penny’s relative magnanimity towards Melanie.

So Heinz won Idols, but I don’t really see a lasting career for him. He won’t break through anywhere internationally, and I can see him doing the “platteland” (South African small town) circuit soon, with his biggest fan base being in places like Bronkhorstspruit, Pofadder, and Putsonderwater (I kid you not with these place names). He has completed most of a law degree and this may stand him in good stead once the inevitable lawsuits that form part of a musician’s career take place.

The real winners from the show will probably be Judge Marcus, who came across as the “nice” judge and gained a lot of public acclaim, and the cellular phone company doing the votes. A few lawyers may also do well if there are lawsuits placed as a result of the show.

M-Net will be the big losers if they don’t change the way the public votes on their reality shows. Clearly the demographic of those who can vote (i.e. cellular phone and internet access) is influencing results, aside from the possibility of syndicates.

The show still showed that race is a huge issue in South Africa, although it has been handled with a fair amount of maturity on most parts, so it does maybe show the country is growing up a bit. Certainly, this sort of show would not have been possible ten years ago.

M-Net’s next excursion into reality TV is Fear Factor. Surely nothing can go wrong there…