Last night, a bombshell result saw Ripley Alexander and Imogen Spendlove depart Australian Idol after the nation voted for their Top 10 contestants live on Seven.
Across Australia, 1.3 million votes were cast, but only a handful separated the bottom four: Ripley, 19, from Brisbane; Imogen, 23 from Victoria; Ivana Ilic, 20, from Victoria; and Karratha’s 24-year-old, TJ Zimba.
Before hosts Ricki-Lee and Scott Tweedie revealed how Australian had voted, the Top 12 opened the show with a spectacular group performance of Freedom! ’90 by George Michael.
Chart-topping Australian pop duo The Veronicas also took to the stage tonight with a rousing performance of Here to Dance.
As the bottom four were announced, judges Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Amy Shark were stunned at the shock result. Amy said:
“I honestly have no words…my mind is blown right now.”
On Ripley, Kyle said:
“The guy has millions of streams and such a unique voice. I’m shocked you are in the bottom.”
The bottom four artists took to the stage to prove they deserve a spot in the Top 10.
Ripley impressed with his take on Mercy by Shawn Mendes, while Ivana showed off her powerful voice on Where Have You Been by Rihanna.
Imogen stunned the crowd with her final performance, singing Celine Dion’s It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, while TJ brought the vibe with Bad Guy by Billie Eilish.
Kyle called “super talent” Ripley’s elimination:
“Unbelievable. A real shame.”
Marcia reflected that Ripley was so popular Australia may have forgotten to vote:
“You’ve got to vote to keep people on. We don’t want a repeat of this again. If you really dig somebody vote for them.”
She reflected:
“I feel like it’s our fault, we talked you up Ripley.”
Amy said:
“You have such a bright future and I’m so glad we saw you first. It’s been such an incredible ride. I’m really going to miss your performances; you’re not supposed to have favourites but you’re a real favourite of mine.”
Both eliminated contestants received a standing ovation.
Ripley said:
“I love you all. I just want to say thank you all so much.”
Imogen reflected:
“Thank you for watching me. I am just happy I got to sing for you all.”
Marcia added:
“That is not going to be the last we see of Imogen.”
Next week on Australian Idol: The Top 10 fight for their place in the competition with songs selected by Kyle, Marcia and Amy.
It’s sure is a shame re Ripley. I voted for him. The judges were shocked as i was.
Maybe it’s time for the judges have the final vote. They are the professionals.
It’s not australian IDOL ITS AUSTRALIAN BULLSHIT THE PUBLIC VOTED THEY ALLREADY HAVE VOTES COUNTED TO KNOW WHO THE BOTTOM TWO ARE BUT NO THE VERY LOWLY RATED AND RIGHTLY SO IDOL SHOW NOW HAS TO NAME THE BOTTOM 2 AND HAVE A BULLSHIT SING OFF THE AUSTRALIAN VEIWERS ARE NOT STUPID WAKE UP IDOL EXTRA REVENUE IS NOT WORTH RISKING THE DEMISE OF THE SHOW
Can’t believe enough people didn’t vote for Imogen.
She’s an absolute stand out talent & had a strong chance of winning Idol. There were few rivals among her but I guess the younger generation vote had the last day. Whoever dressed Imogen chose inappropriate outfits that were not at all flattering for her figure.
She looked beautiful the first night in that long black ball gown. She’s an absolute star! Hope talent scouts were watching her. I’d gladly pay to listen to an album of hers!!! Spellbinding voice!
Undeserved & unbelievable outcome for her. 😢
Hopefully she gets signed to a record label
Idol is a crock Imogen is by far the best voice and she was voted off and TJ who is hard to understand beat a talent like Imogen No way
I believe the public should be only allowed one vote, many may have know idea if contestants have good voices or not. You need to have an ear for music & at times tenors & Sopranos with fantastic voices are not considered.
The judges should be true professionals who know music & should have the final say in who wins, otherwise the winner may be chosen because people send many txts for the one person.
Absolutely unbelievable Ripley was voted off
He was a genuine Artist, creative and original!
His song choices were beautiful
We need more people like him to represent Australia. Very boring and cliche to keep putting Karaoke performers through! Sorry.
Very disappointed. I’m not interested in the show now. I wish you all the best Ripley
Yes I agree why do they always get these people to talk of tragedy in their lives while I sympathise with them it does create a situation where people vote for them because of this not because of their true talent
This happens a lot on these shows. Instead of voting for one contestant, they vote for two..or three. You have to pick one contestant and put ALL your votes on them. Only one can win in the end…and giving unlimited votes to the public is a bit dumb and unfair. I REALLY wanted to see what Ripley would sing next…just being selfish as I do not want to have to wait for an album…I was hoping to hear him sing an original song or something from The Beatles or Joni Mitchell.
Judges should decide. Repeatedly texting a name over and over has nothing to do with best talent but who gets the most texts. Not interested in Idol anymore. What a disappointment. So does the least talented win bcos they have the most texts??? Ripley should never have been sent off. We loved his exceptional talent. Why didnt judges keep him? After 20 finalists don’t they decide?. 🤪
So sorry to see Ripley go. It does not seem right and I don’t really want to watch the show now.
TG completely wrecked John Farhams song…Aussie icon song down the drain…of all the songs he had to pick that song to wipeout completely
WOW. How is it that a particular contestant continually receives praise when he can’t even hold a tune? This is the biggest JOKE on TV. And Johnny would be disgusted with the ruination of his song.
If Ripley puts out an album I will buy it. I voted but I think a lot of people believed Ripley was safe. I blame the judges a bit. They should have saved him.
Best chance for an Australian idol to do exceptionally well since Guy Sebastian.
Big missed opportunity.
This is supposed to be a talent show not, let’s feel sorry for the poor boy(or girl). It’s not about people’s past it’s what they can do now.TJ cannot sing he is only good at rap.How he is still in I don’t know.I think Kyl really killed it for Trent tonight.He looked so deflated after Kyls comments.l will be disappointed if he goes off as he has the whole package for a future country singer.
TJ should not have got this far He is a legend in his own mind when you get contestants like Dylan and Amy who are way better than the others and have to compete with people like TJ who got a pass to get through to next level It’s so unfair.It should be one vote per voter.This would make it fair for all contestants.
Please change the voting system.If not right now, do it next year. You should only get one vote per mobile phone to make it fair and true. You could SMS on your phone all day, every day. How ridiculous!