South African Idols is heading into its final weeks, and after months of searching South Africa finally has its top two Idols. Jason and Sasha Lee hit the Idols stage this Sunday where a weeks worth of votes will be summed up in what M-Net will call an Idols extravaganza. But how much of an extravaganza has this season been, and has it lived up to the high expectations I put forward in my first article.

The simple answer is, no. Let me make a flat statement right here, MNET should never have run the South African Idols over the same period as American Idol. American Idol has defined reality television with almost eight full series under its belt and superstars emerging from every corner of its alumni. It’s difficult not to compare the two shows. Yes, South Africa doesn’t have as much of a budget. Nor do its people have the money to create what we know as superstars but more could be done.

In fact, the same problems plague the SA version as when it started. I rejoiced at the removal of Colin Moss, but the rejoicing was premature. I never thought anybody could be worse than Moss, I was wrong! Liezel has rather unnatural mannerisms in front of the camera, a huge surprise to me as she was nominated for best female presenter for some other show. Are our standards dropping?

But the presenter can’t be blamed for everything. The judges, as usual, are totally clueless and seem partially tone deaf at the best of times. Not only that but the men aren’t in the least bit entertaining. At least Mara has some life, and a few intelligent things to say. Gareth Cliff is beginning to come off as an old timer who won’t let go of his rebellious teenage years. Randall, who tries to be mean but ends up looking stupid, has become even worse in season five. But Dave takes the cake. The man who, supposedly, is a big shot at Song BMG, seems to have very little music knowledge and has as much entertainment value as dead grass.

Again, the judges can’t hold all the blame. Whoever is writing the shows script is completely clueless. The lines they force the presenter to read, not that she can, are frustrating at the best of times. And as for sound quality, I will never buy any Shure products because if that’s the quality they produce I would rather speak through a loud hailer.

With all that said, season five has turned out to have better quality contestants. Hopefully if MNET continues the Idols masquerade they’ll look into its problems and continue to improve. That’s all we ask.