new articles 9 september

[Inside Australian Idol]

Love is it for Paulini
From Sydney Confidential
September 9, 2003

BIG-VOICED Bankstown girl Paulini Curuenavuli made the Australian Idol final last night with a song dedicated to the romantic in all of us.


Robert and Paulini were voted through by viewers last night.


The 20-year-old - who admits she has had no singing training whatsoever - said she thought Barbara Streisand's Somewhere would be a winner because "love applies to every person".

Paulini was swept through to the final along with Melbourne boy Robert Mills.

And she told Sydney Confidential that her continuing success on the hit show was down to her loyal supporters.

"I've been walking in the mall and having people come up and say that they are voting for me," she said.

"I didn't think there were that many until tonight."

The Channel 10 show will be holding a wild card episode next week where two of the judges' 10 favourite performers will have the opportunity to be in the final series, thus boosting the number of finalists from 10 to 12.

Mills 21, from Box Hill, said he was so surprised at the win, with Robbie Williams' Angels, that he hadn't thought of what he was going to sing next.

"It's a 1970s' theme so I'll have to ask my older brother," he said.

He confessed last night he had been singing with a broken nose which he hoped to get fixed when the show was over.

"Fortunately it hasn't affected my singing," he said.

The Daily Telegraph

www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7210947%255E28477,00.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Uncovering Idol's wild ones
By Toby Forage
September 09, 2003


JUST when you thought it was safe to get excited about the Australian Idol finals, the judges last night threw their wild cards on the table.

Courtney Act got a great surprise last night - a second chance.

Moments after Paulini Curuenavuli and Robert Mills had been voted through by the public, it was announced that next week 10 more contestants will be given a second chance to show Australia it made a grave error by not also voting for them.

Gender bender Courtney Act was given the news that (s)he will be a part of that wild card line-up, alongside fellow group five contestant Stu Campbell.

However, the remaining eight will not be announced until next Sunday, but it is sure to be a predictable bunch.

Certain to return is Rebekah LaVauney, who performed in the same week that Anthony Sumbati was given the boot for conducting an "illegal" interview with a Sydney radio station.

Rebekah sang Lauren Hill's Ex Factor with immaculate feeling, and left the judges in raptures.

Mark Holden rated the performance higher than any other throughout the series so far. "Praise to you. There's something wrong with this competition if you don't get through," he told the 25-year-old.

Universal praise from fellow judges Marcia Hines and Ian "Dicko" Dickson followed, and when Rebekah wasn't voted though the following Monday, Holden said: "You'll be back, Rebekah, don't you worry."

Such bold predictions might not be levelled at the other hopefuls, although Rebecca Tapia and Cosima De Vito should be considered odds on favourites to come back.

Whether the latter will have "sorted out the eyebrows", as suggested by Dicko, remains to be seen.

That leaves five other places to be filled. Shannon Thompson, Jennifer Pearl, Levi Kereama and Eli Diache will almost certainly take four of them, with the fifth fairly open.

Next week's show will feature a live band for the first time, giving the contestants the chance to really show what they can do.

Our cheery trio of judges will not have the final say, however. The panel can only vote one person through to the final, with the public given the power to elect the second.

Rest assured, though, it'll be cut throat, with the show's producers already predicting this to be the most fiercely contested semi-final of them all.

entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,7212313%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html