At this nerve-testing, emotionally-laden encounter, the words “yes, you’re through to the next round” will carry even more weight than in the previous rounds, because from after this big announcement, the fate of the singers will be in the hands of one judge only – the voting public.

But, as judge Randall Abrahams made clear in last week’s episode, there is only room at the top for 16 singers to go through to the voting stage. Will the early favourites make it through this last, merciless cut, or have some others upped their game enough to sing for South Africa’s vote?

M-Net’s head of communications, Lani Lombard says no Idols fan can afford to miss this episode. “The talent has been exceptionally high this year and even in this early stage of the competition, some of the contestants have already become household names. From next week onwards,the three judges have no more say and it’s going to be interesting to see who from this incredibly gifted group will be chosen by South Africa to be our Top 10 first and finally, our next Idols winner. Anything can still happen.“

The contestants whose names are put forward by the judges to go into the voting phase will be divided into two groups. The first group show, which will take place in front of an audience at the newly built Soweto Theatre, will be broadcast on Saturday, 21 July at 17:30. The second group show will be broadcast on the following night, Sunday, 22 July at 17:30.

Season 8’s voting rules and voting terms and conditions will be made public after this week Sunday’s show.

Idols is a co-production between M-Net and Mzansi Magic. Updates and further information can be found on the official Idols Facebook page, on Twitter @IdolsSA and at www.mnet.co.za/idols.