Canadian Idol 3, The Finale Part 1: This is It, Baby

The show opens tonight with a look back at the series – it's a quick look, thankfully. Ben then leaps out wearing a lovely maroon jacket which I find very dashing. He tells us that this is the second last time we'll be watching this season of Canadian Idol. This relieves me and makes me sad all at the same time.

Ben also lets us know that tonight's show will be 90 minutes long. That was a little tidbit of information I hadn't received. Ah, well. And, tomorrow night, for the grand finale, we will have special guests with us! Yay! Who are they? Well, none other than Canadian Idol 2 winner Kalan Porter, judge Sass Jordan, vocal coach Debra Byrd and The Barenaked Ladies! That's quite a lineup folks! I'm impressed.

Now... intro judges: Jake Gold, Farley Flex, the ever-lovely Sass Jordan and Zack Werner who is dressed in an Elvis costume. Ben wants to know how Zack is feeling tonight. Zack questions, "Isn't this Elvis night?" Oh, funny guy! He gets up to show off his outfit which is absolutely incredibly ridiculous – even for Zack! Ben moves on to Sass. He wants to know, from her, what the Top 2 need to do tonight. She replies instead of keeping your eye on the prize that they "have to keep their eye on the horse." Alright.

For Farley, Ben poses the question "What is different tonight?" Farley says that tonight is the night. "It's gonna be the ultimate." And, Jake, did he see it evolving this way? Jake calls Zack "Schmelvis" and then says that all of the Top 10 are worthy of being in the Top 2. He then refers to Melissa as Emily – oops! He does think, however, that Rex and Melissa "played the game better than anyone else."

We'll now hear the judges’ thoughts about this entire season. Roll it, Ben! We see clips of different times throughout the show and Sass says that she "loves finding someone fun." Zack thinks the "day is filled with constant discovery" even though he looks miserable a lot of the time. Farley tries to figure out why the kids are there. And Jake says that when someone walks in the room, he wants to hear what they can do. "You never know who will walk through that door."

Thinking some more about the season, Sass tells us that "the only way to stay sane is to have a sense of humour." Jake wants us to know that when the judges fight on TV, "it is for real!" I, personally don't doubt that. Sass also says that Zack is a rollercoaster but she loves him. And Jake finishes it out with, "There are no winners or losers. All of the Top 10 have massive opportunities. It just what they do with it." True enough.

That's a nice little segue into Ben letting us know that last season's runner up, Theresa Sokyrka, is in the house! Yay! I love Theresa! We'll go to break and when we come back, she'll perform for us.

I notice that closed captioning is brought to us tonight by Hedley's new self-titled CD. I saw Hedley in concert this past weekend and you can read about that over at Foxes on Idol.

Before we get to Theresa, we're going to catch up with a few Idols of days gone by. It's a really quick montage so you're only getting the highlights, folks. We see Gary Beals, Shane Wiebe, Tyler Hamilton, Toya Alexis, Theresa Sokyrka, Billy Klippert!, Kaleb Simmonds, Jason Greeley, and Anna Cyson who correct me if I'm wrong was never on Canadian Idol. I think she was on a Quebec Idol-type show.

At any rate, we see how their lives have changed. Most say it's hard work after the show – labels aren't going to come knocking on your door. And most of this group have released independent albums which have done quite well. Some former Idols have been signed to major record deals as well despite the fact they haven't won. Those two would be third place finishers Billy Klippert and Jacob Hoggard (Hedley).

Tyler Hamilton was seen doing carpentry on CI1 and is now part of a home renovation show called UDesign. Anna Cyzon has recently joined the crew on E-Talk Daily which is the show that host Ben Mulroney co-hosts each day. It's nice to see that they're all doing well! I've missed them.

Theresa Sokyrka takes the stage now and she'll be singing "Turn My Back" from her debut CD, These Old Charms, which is in stores now in case you haven't picked one up yet. I tell you as soon as she hits the stage, I instantly miss her. Her song is absolutely wonderful. She starts out a cappela, only strumming her acoustic guitar once every few bars. Then the band kicks in and it's just all Theresa. It's jazzy, it's bluesy, it's wonderful! She hasn't changed a bit. She's still wearing her glasses and she skats her way to the end of the song. This is so much fun to see.

Ben joins Theresa on stage and asks her what she's been up to. She tells him how she's been all over Canada and how "it's been awesome!" He presents her with her Gold record for "These Old Charms" and she couldn't be more thrilled, saying she's having the time of her life.