Who gets the wildcard slots?

This weekend, three earlier evicted contestants in the ongoing reality television show, Nigerian Idol, will come a tad closer to their dreams of being the winner of the show with its promises of fame and fortune and grand entry into the Nigerian music industry. The fate of the contestants, nine of them, who were evicted during the contest for the 10 finalists but were brought back by the judges to compete for the Wild Card slots, now lies in the hands of voters. The wild card allows three winners into the Nigerian Idol finals. However, the contestant with the highest number of public votes would make it back into the competition while the other two would be decided by the judges comprising Yinka Davies, Charly Boy and Jeffrey Daniel.

Thus, on Sunday, the nine contestants put aside every inhibition to sing their hearts out. It was their last chance to take a shot at the Idol’s crown and they gave it their all. The show kicked off with a performance by Tega who reprised her role as a woman afraid to lose her man as she sang Mary J Blige’s Be Without You. Ebbi Paul Otti, who once again showed his vocal dexterity with a brilliant rendition of KC and Jojo’s All my life, followed suit. One after the other, the contestants bound on stage, cooing and crooning and belting out classics that earned them deafening rounds of applauses. Whether these applauses translate into vote remain to be seen. “I have never had this much fun in Nigerian Idol. The talent is so good; it appears as if I am watching the top nine stages of the show and not the wildcard. Really, Nigeria has an incredible amount of talent and Nigerian Idol appears to have collected the cream of them all,” says an excited Daniel.

Project Manager, Tiwa Medubi, informs that there would be a top 12 final on the show, but, “The real contest begins on February 12, in the Nigerian Idol finals, then a whole team comprising of a music director, voice coach, stylist and others work together to craft the Nigerian Idol who can stand on his or her own amongst other Idol alumni worldwide.”