"We saw some very promising singers here today. Let's see if Cape Town can better Pretoria's performance next week."
One of the talented performers who won a Golden Ticket was 24-year-old John Niel, who makes a good living busking on the streets of Pretoria. "I write my own songs, I already have more than a hundred songs in my repertoire," he said, clutching his Golden Ticket. "I would love to record my own songs one day, rather than sell them to other singers."
Shenay O'Brien from Johannesburg made Idols SA history when she became the first cross-dressing act to win a Golden Ticket. Shenay is the alter-ego of 24-year-old Thiart van der Linde, an actor who studied Drama at the Tshwane University of Technology. "Shenay is an actress, she's a performer, she is legal in the industry,” Van der Linde explains.
The day also marked choreographer
Somizi Mhlongo's first day on duty as an Idols judge. "I was very nervous for the first hour or so," Mhlongo admits. "Nervous but excited. But it's fun."
Mhlongo has bonded seamlessly with the existing team of Randall Abrahams, Unathi Msengana and Gareth Cliff. "We're having a great time," Cliff laughed, "Somizi is making me laugh a lot."
The next audition session for
Idols SA season 11 auditions are at Grand West in Cape Town on the Saturday, 7 February, followed by KwaZulu-Natal auditions at The Playhouse on the Saturday, 21 February. The final auditions will take place at Carnival City East in Johannesburg on the Sunday, 1 March.
Contestants need to be South African citizens between the ages of 16 and 30 and need to bring an ID document with them to enter
Idols SA. Underage contestants have to be accompanied by their parents.
Idols SA is a co-production between the two pay-television channels M-Net and Mzansi Magic.