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Luckily I read about the elimination on Wikipedia every Sunday morning before coming here otherwise kenneth would have given me a heart attack.

Seriously though today was the best elimination news yet. I would have been sad if James had gone.

Good riddance to Toby.

Honestly though I think he quit because of Jay Dee, or at least in part because of Jay Dee. Jay Dee clearly doesn't care for him and doesn't want to work with him. Since Jay Dee will be the one working on the winner's album if Toby won he'd be stuck with him. He obviously felt quitting and being a teacher would be more in his best interest that winning, getting stuck with Jay Dee, possibly flopping and not having the option to go back to teaching due to things like contract issues. Personally if Jay Dee is even partly responsible for forcing someone to quit the competition he's an asshole, even if I am happy Toby quit. Jay Dee has been really awful to certain contestants though, Toby in particular based on who he wants to work with. This is about who the Australian public wants and album from, not who Jay Dee thinks should be an artist and how he thinks they should be.

Toby is probably better off being a teacher though and just doing this on the side. I doubt he would have made a career work at this point in his life and by winning he'd be stuck in a contract with possibly no way out.

Top 5 is a bit late to quit though, other people like Kate, Kim etc would have enjoyed the opportunity to make it further.

Either way I'm just happy Hayley is safe again and wasn't bottom 3. I guess it will come down to her and probably Stan in the Top 2. Hayley ftw. I think she has it won now that Toby's gone.

Apparently Stan is a hot favourite to win OzI. I could see him winning or losing in the finals, it really depends. He's been so inconsistent though I don't think he should win.

Kiwi hot favourite to win 'Australian Idol'
4:00AM Sunday Oct 11, 2009
By Alice Neville

The hot favourite to win the latest series of Australian Idol is a Kiwi who turned his back on a troubled youth to chase dreams of music stardom.

Stan Walker, 18, was born in Melbourne but grew up on a marae in Mt Maunganui before moving to Queensland with his family.

Walker said he went a bit off the rails in New Zealand because of problems at home.

"I was smoking dope, stealing, hanging out with the wrong crowd."

Now, he's a "good boy", crediting music and church for his turnaround.

He is the bookies' favourite to win the seventh season of the hit show, with odds of better than 3-1.

At least 10 Facebook groups have been set up in his honour, each with thousands of members.

But in true Kiwi style, Walker is humble about his prospects - especially after a stumble in his latest performance, which screened here on Friday.

"I missed the start and then I couldn't hear it and so I started in a different key," he says of his rendition of Pink's Dear Mr President.

Walker has a tattoo saying Ataahua - beautiful in Te Reo - on his neck and misses "everything" about New Zealand.

He reckons Kiwis who cross the Ditch and lose their accents are "plastics". "I never say I'm from Australia."

Former New Zealand Idol judge Frankie Stevens says it will be a "tragedy" if Walker doesn't win.

"There's a really large difference between him and the other singers. He really stands out so much above the crowd."

Stevens reckons the only thing that may go against him is the fact he's a Kiwi.

Australian Idol audiences traditionally back "Aussie battler" types.

And Stevens says Walker's success highlights why TV2's decision to drop New Zealand Idol after three seasons was wrong.

"The rest of the world still values Idol.

"Now there's nowhere for these kids to go, and that's why they go to Australia."

Walker has already been approached about gigs in New Zealand, whether he wins Australian Idol or not.

He wants to record and album as soon as possible and would love to work with any of his favourite Kiwi artists, including Fat Freddy's Drop, Katchafire and Nesian Mystik.

But he's clear about the kind of music he wants to make - and determined to buck the stereotype of soulless, manufactured pop stars.

"Modern music is meaningless and it's all about sex," he says.

"I just want to take it back to the real stuff, where music is supposed to be."

LOL @ modern music being meaningless and about sex. Isn't he a Beyonce ho fanboy?

Also why are New Zealand peeps called Kiwis?

I think James or Nathan will go this week. Clearly being in the bottom 3 the week before doesn't actually save people. One of those guys is going to go after all their bottom 3 appearances and the other one will probably follow at Top 3 leaving Stan and Hayley in the finals.

I imagine Kate, Kim etc are heartbroken Toby didn't decide a lot earlier that this wasn't for him.