The seventh season of Australian Idol began on 9 August 2009, to determine who would succeed season 6 winner, Wes Carr. Beginning amid controversy, judge Kyle Sandilands was replaced by Sony Music record executive, Jay Dee Springbett. It was the only season where all four final contestants were eighteen years old or younger. Stan Walker was declared the winner on 22 November 2009.
Overview
Format changes
Ian Dickson, and Marcia Hines returned as judges; however, long-term judge Kyle Sandilands was sacked after causing controversy on his radio show prior to the premiere, although he was still present for the auditions as they had been pre-recorded some weeks earlier. On 23 August 2009, it was announced on the Idol show that the new judge taking over Kyle Sandilands' spot would be Jay Dee Springbett. Andrew G returned as host, with assistance from Ricki-Lee Coulter due to the departure of James Mathison. The first auditions saw guest judge Brian McFadden join the panel, and his fiancée Delta Goodrem acted as a guest judge for the Sydney auditions.
A further change was also decided for the Top 12 round eliminations. The Monday-night elimination show was axed in favour of a two-hour 'super Sunday' elimination/ performance show, in which a contestant was eliminated according to votes tallied the previous week, followed by performances.
Auditions
The auditions were held at the following locations:
^ Auditioning contestants were required to be between the ages 16 and 30 on 30 June 2009 (born between 1 July 1979 and 1 July 1993).
Semi-finals
These aired on the week of 24 to 27 August, allowing viewers to vote. The "Wildcard" Performance Show followed on Sunday, 30 August, with live results revealed the following week, on 6 September.
Group 1
Advancing to the Top 12: Stan Walker & Kate Cook Wild Card Contenders: Hayley Warner & Toby Moulton
Group 2
Advancing to the Top 12: Ashleigh Toole & Nathan Brake Wild Card Contenders: Lauren Street & Casey Barnes
Group 3
Advancing to the Top 12: Sabrina Batshon & Scott Newnham Wild Card Contender: Aliqua Mao
Group 4
Advancing to the Top 12: James Johnston & Kim Cooper Wild Card Contenders: Ed Zaidan, Lucie Johnson, Tim Johnston & Tenielle Muslin
Wildcard
Advancing to the Top 12 through the Public vote: Toby Moulton and Hayley Warner Advancing to the Top 12 through the Judges picks: Casey Barnes and Tim Johnston
Weekly Song Themes
Group/Guest Performances
The Top 12 Finalists
Stan Walker
Stan Walker was born in October 1990. Although residing in Australia for the past three and a half years, Stan grew up in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand. He works in retail. He has the Māori word ataahua (meaning "beautiful") tattooed on his neck.
Hayley Warner was born on 23 January 1992 in Sydney. She was the lead singer of her band, Bleached Academy and worked in retail at a surf shop. She was also related to a young and upcoming New South Wales cricket player David Warner.
James Johnston was born on 26 November 1990 in Wingham, New South Wales. He was a part of Starstruck in 2005, performing in front of thousands. He prefers the acoustic/rock style of music.
Nathan Brake was born on 27 July 1991 in Guildford, Sydney. He was a student at the Australian International Performing Arts High School. He is the lead singer of his band, Ackolade. Nathan has since performed at a number of events including the 2009 Melbourne Christmas carols with Ricki Lee Coulter.
Nathan Brake has an unofficial fan site Nathan Nation where upcoming events are mentioned and contains a forum for fans.
Top 4: "Closer" (Ne-Yo) – Eliminated on 8 November
Toby Moulton
Toby Moulton was born in 1979 and worked as a primary school teacher, born in Melrose, South Australia. He teaches at St Joseph’s School Tranmere, South Australia.
Kate Cook was born in 1983 and came from Lowood, Queensland. She worked as a meat cutter at an abattoir. Her mother, who was her biggest musical influence, committed suicide when Kate was 16. Cook wrote her first single release about her mother, "Make You Stay" (released independently and available to Australian radio in April 2010). She died on 3 March 2019.[1]
Kim Cooper was born on 29 November 1987 in Melbourne. At age 17, she moved to Townsville, Queensland, after her father was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. She works in fashion retail.
Scott Newnham was born in 1989 and comes from Melbourne. He works as a bricklayer, and before Idol, had never sung in front of another person except his best friend.
Top 8: "So What" by P!nk – Eliminated on 11 October
Tim Johnston
Tim Johnston was born in 1981 and comes from Newcastle, New South Wales. He auditioned for The X Factor, the fifth edition, while living in the United Kingdom. He advanced to the bootcamp round, but failed to make the cut for the Visit to the Judges' houses. He works as a barista.
Batshon performing Michael Jackson's Earth Song for Australian Idol Season 7
Sabrina Batshon (born 26 October 1984) is an Australian-born singer, songwriter and actor from Rhodes, Sydney. She began singing and dancing at the age of two at the Johnny Young Talent School. She had roles on Australian television including Water Rats, G.P. and Home and Away. She won several talent quests including the McDonald's Performing Arts Challenge. In 2000, she sang with The Australian Girls Choir and Paulini for the Qantas campaign CD, The Spirit of Australia.[2] She was understudy to Nikki Webster as Dorothy in a 2000/2001 stage performance of The Wizard of Oz and was cast as the 'Little Girl' in the 2001 production of The Witches of Eastwick (musical) in Melbourne. She attended the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and was named in November 2004 in Parliament by Andrew Refshauge as being one of Australia's best singers.[3] During 2005 and early 2009 Batshon experienced chronic depression, agoraphobia and panic attacks, and was admitted to hospital. Producer Stephen Tate said speaking "openly and honestly" about depression was the way forward for the media and community.[4]
Casey Barnes was born on 3 September 1978 in Tasmania. At a young age he became blind in his right eye after an infection. He has opened for Bryan Adams and played alongside Eskimo Joe, Vanessa Amorosi and Diesel during his career.
Top 11: "I'm Not Over" by Carolina Liar – Eliminated on 20 September
Ashleigh Toole
Ashleigh Toole was born in 1991 and comes from the Central Coast, New South Wales, and is of both Irish and Lebanese heritage. A student, she grew up performing in multiple music festivals with her family. Ashleigh went on to marry Rams 250 game heart-throb AJ Gray in the vineyards of the Hunter Valley. The two currently reside in Western Sydney living their best lives.
All four remaining contestants from Semi-final No. 4 were selected for the Wildcard show
Toby Moulton withdrew from the competition, keeping original eliminee James Johnston in the competition.
Ratings
The first episode, which featured auditions in both Melbourne and Brisbane, achieved an audience of 1.3m. This was considerably lower than previous first episodes. In 2006, the premiere garnered 1.4m, the 2007 reached 1.65m and 2008 achieved 1.4m. The peak audience, however, of 1.77m was the biggest-seen in years. The show won the night in the 18–49 demographic.[5]
Notes
^Overall national viewers, numbers in brackets indicate nightly ratings position.
References
^"Australian Idol contestant Kate Cook dead at 36". news.com.au. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
^"Various artists – Qantas Presents - The Spirit of Australia".
^"Full Day Hansard Transcript (Legislative Assembly, 16 November 2004, Corrected Copy)". Archived from the original on 24 May 2011.
^"Struggling to report depression - The Daily Telegraph". Archived from the original on 11 October 2009.
^Behind Idol (2009) Australian Idol Launch peaks at 1.77m. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) {Accessed 13 August 2009}
^Knox, David (10 August 2009). "Week 33". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
^Knox, David (17 August 2009). "Week 34". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
^Knox, David (24 August 2009). "Week 35". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
^Knox, David (31 August 2009). "Week 36". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
^Knox, David (7 September 2009). "Week 37". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
^Knox, David (14 September 2009). "Week 38". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
^Knox, David (21 September 2009). "Week 39". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
^Knox, David (28 September 2009). "Week 40". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
^Knox, David (5 October 2009). "Week 41". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
^Knox, David (11 October 2009). "Week 42". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 14 October 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
^Knox, David (19 October 2009). "Week 43". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
^Knox, David (26 October 2009). "Week 44". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
^Knox, David (2 November 2009). "Week 45". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
^Knox, David (9 November 2009). "Week 46". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 November 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
^Knox, David (16 November 2009). "Week 47". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 November 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
^Knox, David (23 November 2009). "Week 48". tvtonight.com.au. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2009.