No different to last year.
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Yes. It makes no sense unless the judges had the final say on who is eliminated.
Australian Idol Top 10 set to soar
Lily-Grace and Sophie eliminated
Tonight on Australian Idol, Lily-Grace Grant and Sophie Poidevin departed the competition after Australia’s vote cemented the Top 10 on Seven and 7plus.
Ahead of hosts Ricki-Lee and Scott Tweedie revealing the nation’s verdict, all 12 contestants united for an uplifting performance of their Top 12 single All Night Long, which has officially hit the Top 10 on iTunes.
Judges Marcia Hines, Kyle Sandilands and Amy Shark summed up the amazing talent at this stage of the competition, acknowledging it was in the voters’ hands.
Amy praised the “incredible top-tier talent”, while Marcia implored Australia to vote for their favourites to keep them in the competition.
Country singer Lily-Grace, 18, from NSW; Harry Lamb, 26, from Ballarat, VIC; Sophie, 20, from Melbourne, VIC; and singing skier Kesha Oayda, 22, from Jindabyne landed at the bottom of the leaderboard after the performance shows.
The four contestants with the fewest votes then returned to the stage to prove they had what it takes to continue in the competition.
Lily-Grace drew on her country roots for a rousing performance of Sweet Home Alabama by Lynard Skynard, while a visibly nervous Harry performed the Oasis classic Don’t Look Back in Anger.
Kesha’s stunning voice soared on Lay Me Down by Sam Smith, while Sophie reminded Australia of her stage prowess with What a Man by Linda Lyndell, both earning a standing ovation from the judges.
Kesha and Sophie were universally praised by the judges, with Kyle booing, declaring it “upsetting” and “disappointing”, they landed in the bottom two.
Simela Petridis, 31, from SA and Wanwue Tarpeh, 21, from VIC were safe from the public vote after the judges sent them direct to the Top 10 after the performance shows.
After her elimination, a grateful Lily-Grace thanked her family, judges and everyone behind the scenes of the show, promising: “This is not the end of my musical journey, this is just the beginning.”
Kyle implored people to see Lily-Grace perform, while Marcia admired her grace as she departed the competition.
Sophie reflected: “I got to live my dreams on this stage” and encouraged artists to “believe in yourself first” urging others to take that chance on their passions.
The Australian Idol 2026 Top 10:
- Charlie Moon, 31, Perth, WA
- Harlan Goode, 18, Brisbane, QLD
- Harry Lamb, 26, Ballarat, VIC
- Jacinta Guirguis, 25, Bacchus Marsh, VIC
- John Standley, 17, Bunbury, WA
- Kalani Artis, 23, Central Coast, NSW
- Kesha Oayda, 21, Jindabyne, NSW
- Simela Petridis, 31, Adelaide, SA
- Trè Samuels, 26, Melbourne, VIC
- Wanwue Tarpeh, 21, Melbourne, VIC
The winner will receive $100,000 in prize money, an exclusive recording package with Hive Sound Studios, attend a songwriting camp with Sony Music Publishing, marketing and social media support from The Annex, VIP tickets to the ARIAs and TV WEEK Logie Awards and the esteemed title of Australian Idol 2026.
Australian Idol
Continues 7.00pm Sunday and 7.30 Monday on Seven and 7plus
Listen to Australian Idol performances and stream Top 12 single HERE
It’s been like this since the first season on 7. They haven’t changed it. I guess it’s so the show goes beyond 60mins minimum. Otherwise the show is pretty much over within 45mins.
The singing again is just time wasting - I guess the show will spin it as an opportunity for the eliminated singer to show Australia what they can do 1 last time etc
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Yeah felt like pointless filler. I thought the judges were going to save one based on their performances, or that it would goto another audience vote and that was the reason it was a live show.
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I also thought that the judges were going to choose from the bottom two. Just filler.
They could have had Guy Sebastion sing tonight as a filler, instead of last night too.
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And the show ran way over time. My recording was 60 minutes plus the usual 15 minutes buffer afterwards. It ran past that so we missed the final announcement.
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Nothing wrong with viewers whose favourite they may be, hearing them song one more/last time.
And in these days cost cutting, why wouldn’t 7 look to get another 30 mins out of the show?
I’m not against. It’s all the other rubbish filler that we could do with out. They ask the contestants the same questions in so many episodes and get the same answers that it just becomes boring and monotonous.
And they need to find a different angle to talk about the contestants so they’re not covering the same ground. Enough about the guy whose nanna is his greatest supporter, the young “girl dad”, the barber who sings, the mother with the young kids, the girl who skis/snowboards or the guy who sings music only the oldies know. Jeez, find something else to say.
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Did you not watch the show the past 3 years? This is not new how they are doing it with the bottom 2 performing. The eliminated contestant on Idol from top 12 always comes down to viewer votes.
Amy Shark has really glammed up her look during the finals.
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After his performance, Charlie told Ricki-Lee that he had been sick all week. But the intro showed him well enough to go to Sony Foundation’s Wharf4Ward fundraiser at Woolloomooloo Wharf last Thursday with the other nine contestants.
Also, Ricki-Lee was emotional after Wanwue performed one of her hits, Can’t Touch It.
Does it make sense splitting the group in two? The top 10 becomes two groups of 5. The two groups effectively don’t compete against each other but those within their group of 5.
I understand Seven gets more shows this way but it feels rushed at times eliminating two per week.
It’s because having 12 people & 10 people singing in the 1 show/episode is long. So they can split it into 2 episode of singing. It’s about logistics. They did it as 1 show in season 1 on 7 but has done it this way since s2.
Pretty sure from next week it’s only 1 singing show since they are down to the top 8 so they can have 8 people singing in 1 episode.
When Idol was on 10 everyone sang each week live and one person went home. That’s a true competition and the show was produced to ensure it didn’t negatively impact run time.
The fact remains that by splitting the group into two they aren’t competing against everyone on the show.
The decision is about delivering more episodes per week whilst still compressing the run for budget reasons.
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Australian Idol on 10 always ran over time. It was the first of the reality programs to start doing it.
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And also, eliminating one person per week would about double the number of shows from top 12 onward. I don’t know if the audience, or 7, want that.
But it’s not always the same groups. I’m pretty sure they swap the groups around so while they don’t compete against everyone, it’s not always the same 6