Nigerian Idol Concludes Wild Card Show As Contestants Battle For The Last 3 Spots In The Top 12

It was a night of redemption and a fierce battle over the weekend as the continent’s most entertaining music reality show, Nigerian Idol, held the wild card round show to determine the last set of three finalists that will make it to the finals. Eight contestants were handpicked by the judges from the top 30 contestants to take another chance at the Nigerian Idol Top 12. Unfortunately, Bimi Adegoke opted out of the competition for personal reasons, leaving the wild card contestants as seven.

“It didn’t feel like a wild card performance to me at all. The way the contestants sang, their emotions, performances and everything about the show felt like I was watching the grand finale. Really, Nigeria has an incredible amount of talent and Nigerian Idol appears to have collected the best of them all”, said Jeffrey Daniels.

The electrifying show kicked off with Moses ‘The Teddy Bear’ whose performance of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ was flawless and full of character. Thereafter was the ever charming Okey Jazz who upped his last performance with his exquisite rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Breakaway.’ The soft-spoken Dani Angus was next and he brought the house down with Mariah Carey’s ‘We Belong Together.’

Modele Fatoki’s performance of Whitney Houston’s ‘All the Man I Need’, may have put her in the danger zone, as the judges felt it was lacking and caused an impromptu duet with Yinka Davies. Things picked up with Michael Adedeji, and he continued the show with his strong rendition of Trey song’s ‘Can’t be friends.’  The small but vocally dexterous Oweck left the judges standing with his performance of Christopher Cross’s ‘Sailing’. “You are so small, yet you deliver so mightily. I wonder where all the power and emotion comes from,” said Yinka Davies. Abisiakan ended the performances magnificently with Faith Evan’s ‘Never let you go.’

The wild card allows three winners into the Nigerian Idol finals. The contestant with the highest number of votes will be the first to get into the final stages of the competition while the judges will select two other contestants for the final stage. “The real contest begins on February 16, where the top 12 contestants will be unveiled. A team comprising of a music director, voice coach, stylist and others will work together to craft the Nigerian Idol who can stand on his or her own amongst other Idol alumni worldwide,” said the Project Manager Ope Odugbemi.

So, which contestant will be brought back by Nigerians, who will the judges bring back, and which three will join Debbie Rise, Safeeyat, Vicci, Kome, Immaculate Victoria, Job Emmal, Amarachi, Jay feel and Efezino?

Watch Nigerian Idol on Saturday on NTA at 3:00pm, Sound City and ONTV at 7:00pm, Silverbird at 7:30pm, Superscreen at 6:30pm and TVC at 9:30pm, to watch the results show. Then, catch all-new performances on Sunday on NTA at 3:30pm, Sound City and ONTV at 7:00pm, Silverbird at 8:00 pm, TVC at 8:30 pm and Superscreen at 9:30pm  to watch the wild card contestants have their shot at the grand prize.

The power to decide the fate of one of the contestant lies in the hands of you, Nigeria, so vote by texting the number of your favourite contestant to 33680, from any network. You can also vote for a contestant by dialling his/her number of any using an Etisalat line.

The top prize for this season is worth a superb $100,000, in which the lucky winner will get: 7.5 million naira in cash, a recording contract also worth 7.5 million naira, and a brand new SUV. Runner-ups will not be left out as they will be given prizes to the tune of 10 million naira.

Visit http://www.Nigerianidol.com/ for compelling back story videos, juicy behind the scene news, and get a taste of what is coming. For the latest information, Like the Nigerian Idol Facebook page www.facebook.com/NigIdol, and follow Nigeria Idol on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NigerianIdol--and you could be eligible to win some fantastic prizes including the opportunity to be live in the studio for a recording.

Nigerian Idol is the biggest music show across Africa and is brought to you by Etisalat, in association with Pepsi and supported by Beat FM.