“You can feel it the minute you walk through the door,” chatterbox Funeka Peppeta says. Everyone is tense because tonight the first group will find out who goes and who stays after their first results show. Group one will spend the day rehearsing while the rest will remain at the guesthouse to polish their first performances.
In the TV room Adeline Mocke sits motionlessly at a table. An ear technician is making casts of the contestants’ ears so their hearing apparatuses will fit perfectly. The apparatuses enable the singers to hear themselves no matter how loud the crowd.
Gail Nkoane and Zintle Mkwela are drinking coffee in front of the TV while Lloyd Cele and Jan Hoogendyk – better known as Elvis Blue – are glued to their computers.
They have no time to take it easy but they’re loving life in the Idols house.
“Elvis is a five-year-old in a 30-year-old’s body,” Funeka reveals. “He has us in stitches all the time,” Gail says, looking up from the pool table where she and Funeka are playing.
The Idols contestants get up early, Dave Firth says. He co-owns the Northcliff guesthouse where the top 10 contestants will be living for the next 10 weeks.
Dave and his life partner, Ed Vermaak, are now honorary parents to the 10 contestants who have won over fans with their voices.
It’s not all moonlight and roses for the singers though, Dave says. “The day they walked in we laid down the rules. I told them I’m a pain and I don’t want a messy house or bedrooms.”
Read the full article in the YOU of 2 September 2010