When Nigerian Idol Judges Buried Faces On Stage

Funsho Arogundade

A mild drama ensued at the weekend when two of the celebrity judges on the Nigerian Idol Season 5 TV Reality show buried their faces on the table on stage during a drab performance by one of the contestants, Iheanacho Nancy who goes by the stage name ‘Nana’.

The two judges, Afrobeat maestro, Dede Mabiaku and R&B crooner, Darey ‘Art’ Alade could not face the disappointing performance by the contestant, and to express this, they decided to bury their faces on the table.

After some insipid showing earlier by some of the contestants who made the first batch of ten from the pool of 30 contestants, the judges had expected Nana to put up a re-assuring performance in keeping with her potentials and past experiences on the show, having featured consecutively in the past three editions.

But as it turned out, the 23-year-old Nana who performed the song Bin, Bing, Bang by Katy Tiz failed to measure up.

“You sang like you were singing to yourself. You have a lot to offer, not this. Even your auditions were better than this,” Yinka Davies upbraided her.

Another contestant, 18-year-old Aisy (Aisosa Edeh-Nosa), also failed to hold back her tears on stage after being told by the judges that she had a ‘flat and off’ performance.

Aisy’s group stage performance was a rather uninspiring and disappointing one as she struggled to maintain a balance between the song’s lyrics and her audience.

The eight other contestants who also performed in the first batch of the group stage phase were Ogunmoyero Modolowamu (Dolu), Iwuchukwu Franca (Francesca), Oyinkepreye Deborah Toun (Preye), Edema Paradise Weyinmi (Paradise), Okukusie Precious Ajiri (Play P), Ekeoma Victor Chibuzor (Prime), Efuetanu Tobore Ezekiel (Tobore) and Orah Ojochenemi John (Blue C).

From this lot, three contestants with the highest number of votes from the viewing public will automatically qualify for the top 12 round. This process will be repeated when the second and third batches’ contestants take the stage in the coming weeks.

A total of nine contestants will emerge through this process while the last three slots will be filled from among un-successful ones through  the judges’ wild cards.

Nigerian Idol focuses on discovering Nigerian youths with talent in music and giving them a unique platform to take shot at stardom. The eventual winner goes home with N7.5 million cash reward, a brand new car, a recording deal worth N7.5 million with Universal Music label, South Africa and some high-end devices.