24-year-old Siphelele Ngcobo became the latest Idols casuality on the show on Sunday when he was bounced from the competition before reaching the Top 3.
It was bad news for him on one hand but good another because he scored himself a trip to London this past week and loads of exposure.
He also had a much better and less stressful night than... ? ... what's the name of the guy who lost his words? Oops - we've forgotten!
Here's what the judges had to say about the Top 3:
Rhema
kicked off the show with Miguel’s hit Adorn and he performed the Jackson Five’s I Want You Back in the second round.
Rhema forgot some of his lyrics in the second performance and Gareth Cliff said he hoped that the voters would forgive him. Somizi Mhlongo agreed that Rhema should not make it easy for them to assume who’s going home next.
“You let yourself down,” Unathi Msengana agreed. And Randall Abrahams thought that Rhema was off-key in the first song and that he looked like he had no fun with the second song. “It looked like the last place that you wanted to be was on this stage tonight,” he complained.
You can vote for Rhema:
- by SMSing his voting number
06 to 37400 (SMS's are charged at R1.50/SMS, limited to 100 votes per cellphone number).
- via USSD by dialing *120*33033# (Calls are charged at R1,50 per minute, limited to 200 votes per cellphone number).
- via WeChat (for free) (100 times per cellphone number).
- the official mobile site or
Idols SA website (also free and 100 times per cellphone number for each valid voting period).
Karabo Mogane
chose the Al Green classic Let’s Stay Together for his first round song and his second song of the evening was a South African hit, Zahara’s Umthwalo.
Gareth cautioned him to keep his eye on the prize and stay focused. But “if there’s one performance I want to forget it’s this one,” Somizi said honestly. He did not think the tone of the song was suited to Karabo’s voice. Unathi loved Karabo’s performance and thought he did his best with the Zahara song. “You did your best,” she said.
But Randall didn’t enjoy the Al Green song – “everything was legato,” he complained. And he though Karabo’s second song choice might pick him up some of Siphelele’s votes.
You can vote for Karabo:
- by SMSing his voting number
02 to 37400 or via the other options previously listed.
Mmatema’s first-round song was the Chaka Khan anthem I’m Every Woman and she closed the show with Mafikizolo’s Happiness.
Gareth pointed out that that was not an easy song to perform. “It’s a brave and inspired choice and it made you look great!” he praised. “Thank you for bringing a smile to my face,” Somizo agreed.
Unathi noted that she had concerns about Mmatema’s performance of the Chaka Khan song, but she was very impressed with the Mafikizolo song. And Randall cautioned Mmatema to stay focused, that she hadn’t won yet. “In the top three you have to be absolutely perfect,” he warned her.
You can vote for Mmatema:
- by SMSing her voting number
10 to 37400 or via the other options previously listed.
Voting for the Top 3 opened during the course of the show and closes at 22h00 on Tuesday, 10 November.