Letter to the Editor

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Dear Editor,

Ron Pomerleau – producer of Maritime Idol, a premier singing competition in its third season in the Maritimes whose primary focus is helping in the development of young Maritime artists – says he is truly disgusted by the Canadian Idol process and its lack of sensitivity to young aspiring stars.

Recently he had heard a rumor that a past Maritime Idol top contender had tried out and made it into Canadian Idol, but then rejected their offer.

Pomerleau sent a message to the singer asking if it was true. The following is the past Maritime Idol contestant's response:

"Yes sir, it is true... I auditioned in front of the first two sets of judges, which I believe were producers and then executive producers, which brought me to the final round, celebrity judges, which are the ones that are filmed and aired on television. So I went in, and they completely tore me up before I even opened my mouth to sing.

"They filmed the majority of the insults beforehand; they panned the camera to one of the judges so that he could sigh very unimpressed-like before I began a single note. So needless to say, I was not very impressed with the entire ordeal.

"Either way, after the entire messy audition, in which the judges had a ridiculous fake argument that made absolutely no sense (they're very bad actors), I was the first person to walk away from the Halifax auditions with a gold ticket to Toronto; filmed an interview, etc.

"And then a few weeks later, when I hadn't faxed my paperwork, they called and asked if I would still be attending the following processes in Toronto. I turned them down.

"After reflecting on the entire ordeal, and recognizing how much of it was purely for high ratings and good television I decided I didn't want to be slandered on television by judges who wouldn't even listen to you sing before they mocked your voice. None of it made sense to me.

"Either way, it was a neat experience, but I'm glad I didn't go through with it – far less respectable than I would have expected."

Another one of Maritime Idol's aspiring young contestants who had been waiting ever since the first days of Canadian Idol four or five years ago – practicing almost every day for the last few years for this opportunity of a lifetime – was mocked on national television. He had a shirt on with a yellow horizontal stripe and he's barrel-chested. He was asked if he had just come from the Bee Movie.

I really don't think it's necessary to mock and hurt our kids for TV ratings, and I would suggest that any and all big corporate sponsors of Canadian Idol should be ashamed of their involvement.

The kids work very hard at listening to all of us (society) telling them to follow their dreams. It is one thing to inform them that they may not have the skills needed at this time to move ahead, (which we also do), but it's quite another to mock and ridicule them.

Ron Pomerleau

Producer

Maritime Idol (Division

of SurferGuy.ca Ltd.)

Riverview N.B.