Australian Idol season 4
| Australian Idol 2006 | |
| |
| Finalists (with dates of elimination) | |
| Dean Geyer | |
| Damien Leith | |
| Jessica Mauboy | |
| Chris Murphy | |
| Ricky Muscat | October 30 |
| Lisa Mitchell | October 23 |
| Bobby Flynn | October 16 |
| Lavina Williams | October 9 |
| Guy "Mutto" Mutton | October 2 |
| Klancie Keough | September 25 |
| Reigan Derry | September 18 |
| Joseph Gatehau | September 11 |
Australian Idol 2006 is the fourth season of the Australian television series Australian Idol. The first episode aired on August 6 2006.
Changes to the format
Changes for the fourth season of Australian Idol included the cancellation of "Inside Idol"; a "streamlined" semi-finals (replaced with a variant of the 12 females, 12 males format popularized by American Idol); and the contestants will be able to bring instruments with them on stage for at least one of the final shows. Also, the fourth season's television promos promised a change in the viewer's role in the show, revealed to be an SMS service called 199-JUDGE which allows viewers to SMS their opinions on the judges' reactions.
Broadcasts structure
Auditions
The auditions for the fourth season of Australian Idol started in March 2006 in Mount Isa, Queensland, and concluded on 4 June 2006 in Sydney. Auditions were held in thirteen cities across Australia: Adelaide, Albury-Wodonga, Alice Springs, Brisbane, Broken Hill, Byron Bay, Hobart, Melbourne, Mount Isa, Newcastle, Perth, Sydney, and Townsville. Many of the audition sites had a much smaller population than previous seasons' sites, and producers declared that they wanted to "unearth" rural talent in 2006.[1] The auditions identified 124 hopefuls, who participated in a culling process in Sydney. After group performances and a solo performance from each contestant, the judges cut down the number of contestants left in the competition to 24. Also for the first time, contestants were told, face-to-face and usually by themselves, whether they had made it through to the semi-finals (in contrast to previous years when contestants were divided into groups of three, two of which got through).
The fourth season's broadcasts began on Sunday August 6, 2006 with the broadcast of four audition shows and two shows for the Sydney round.
Semi-finals
The semi-final process consisted of two male groups and two female groups of six contestants over four days, who performed in front of a live audience for the first time (this being first season in which the semi-finals included a live audience). The semi-finals began on Sunday August 27 2006 and ran daily until the results show on Thursday August 31 2006. Two contestants were selected by audience vote each show. Eight contestants were then selected by the judges for another semi-finals show the following week; during the following results show, each judge selected a favorite wildcard contestant, who joined a single wildcard contestant selected by audience vote and the previously selected eight contestants to make up the Final 12.
Finals
The finals of Australian Idol started on Sunday, September 10 2006. On October 15, the finalists had the option to bring a musical instrument on stage. Andrew G remarked during the show that this was a world first for Australian Idol.
The show opened with average ratings (1.4 million) that were on the whole up from last year's ratings. The semi-final shows averaged 1.5 million viewers per night; the ratings remained constant until the Top 8 show, which averaged 1.89 million viewers, much higher than any of the Top 12 shows last year, and was the most watched show on Australian television for that week. The Top 7 Show, which was "acoustic night", was watched by even more - 1.92 million.
Bottom three statistics
| Date | Theme | Order from bottom (left to right) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 11 | Contestant's Choice | Joseph Gatehau | Lavina Williams | Reigan Derry |
| September 18 | Rock | Reigan Derry (2) | Ricky Muscat | Guy "Mutto" Mutton |
| September 25 | #1 Hits | Klancie Keough | Dean Geyer | Lavina Williams (2) |
| October 2 | Song of Birth Year | Guy "Mutto" Mutton (2) | Lisa Mitchell | Jessica Mauboy |
| October 9 | Disco | Lavina Williams (3) | Chris Murphy | Ricky Muscat (2) |
| October 16 | Idol's Choice/Acoustic | Bobby Flynn | Lisa Mitchell (2) | Ricky Muscat (3) |
| October 23 | Rock Swings | Lisa Mitchell (3) | Dean Geyer (2) | Ricky Muscat (4) |
| October 30 | ARIA Hall Of Fame (Australian Classics) | Ricky Muscat (5) | Dean Geyer (3) | Damien Leith |
| November 6 | Audience Choice | |||
| November 13 | ||||
| November 20 | Season Finale | |||