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Australian Idol introduces world-first format tweak

Fremantle agree to audition change so that viewers see favourite singers more at audition stage.

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When Australian Idol returns to Seven next week it will come with a world-first format change, which has been given the approval of rights-holder Fremantle.

Just 30 ‘Golden Tickets’ are on offer, down from 50 last year but how they are awarded will differ this year.

“If you look at a lot of the Reality Shows they end with a conclusion, whether it’s Survivor‘s Tribal Council, a Bachelor Rose Ceremony or a leaderboard score in My Kitchen Rules,” Seven’s Head of Scheduling Brook Hall tells TV Tonight.

“Idol was one of the original Reality babies but in the auditions, particularly at the start, it’s a whole bunch of (singers) and then the shows.

“You might see someone brilliant at an audition and say ‘Wow, I really love them,’ but you might see not them for weeks – whereas that’s not the case with a lot of our reality shows.

“In the two we’re against, MAFS and Survivor, you’re seeing the key characters each day. We’re trying to address that.”

This year instead of raw audition acts proceeding directly to the next round, they will have to front judges Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Amy Shark a second time to learn who gets the Golden Ticket.

Some may have to sing again.

“The good thing is you get to see all of the good artists once more. I think it’s really important for character development,” he explains.

“We’re not bastardising the format by any means. I think it’s just a way of updating it, because largely the format had not changed in 25 years.

“We’re not trying to do a silly trick. We’re just trying to ask, ‘How can we make sure there’s more character development early on?’

“When we get to Live shows you see them each week, singing, new genres, but we’ve got to be honest we didn’t have that at the start.”

Australian Idol returns 7:30pm Monday January 29 on Seven.

Amended.

14 Responses

  1. It doesn’t matter if this show has a world first format. Everyone is sick to death of these shows and the judges are crappy and unlikable. I’ll be watching Aus Survivor.

  2. People are over the basic format and the only way that they could excite the viewers would be to bring back all of the original judges!..
    …And put i a decent host!
    The format is just so old and changed too much (like big brother) the only one way shows like this could succeed is to go back to the originals and appeal to nostalgia.

      1. I swear you go out of your way just to have a different opinion to me.
        If I made a comment tomorrow saying that the sky is blue then you’d make a comment saying that it’s lime green just so that you have an opinion that differs from actual reality.

        1. I’ll often give feedback given it’s a blog, but no conspiracy. Looking back yes we had to agree to disagree over The Block but that’s all I can see to August 2023. I’d say we both argued the case as part of healthy discussion but sorry you don’t see it that way.

  4. Regardless of Mr Sandilands I would have watched now Marcia is back, but I just don’t understand (apologies) why they have to have the sad backstories. More auditions, more authenticity, less scripting. Imagine another Anthony Callea moment or Ben McKenzie’s Mad World.

  5. Simon Cowell and his production company Syco don’t co-own Idol. It’s Simon Fuller who created the show (the man behind the Spice Girls and S Club), and his former company 19 Entertainment, along with Fremantle.

  7. When will Aussie execs learn that viewers don’t care about their “world firsts” – and the justification here shows they’re just using that phrase to hide a poor production decision anyway.

    And even if it’s new to the Ifol franchise having auditionees who got through returning to be cut to make up a pre-determined number of acts who go through is pretty much every Simon Cowell show anyway.

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