Dwight d'Eon's Idol run comes to an end

By Tina Comeau

The Vanguard

NovaNewsNow.com

Dwight d’Eon’s Canadian Idol run came to end Tuesday night when the West Pubnico singer was eliminated from the show after having received the fewest votes of the four remaining contestants in the competition.

D’Eon took his elimination in stride, thanking the people who voted him through this far in the competition, which, he said, exceeded his own expectations.

“I’ve made it way further than I could have ever hoped for so thank you guys so very much,” he said to those who have supported him with their votes. “I’ve had the time of my life this summer.”

As is tradition every week, the finalist leaving the competition closes out the results show by singing a song from the night before.

In a way it was ironic that d’Eon stood on stage singing a Frank Sinatra song because heading into the competition months back, it was probably the last type of music people would have expected to hear from the ‘rocker’ on the show.

But even though it was an odd fit for him, d’Eon said he had an absolute blast learning about and singing the standards.

The feeling heading into the Aug. 28 results show at home was that d’Eon was probably more vulnerable than ever before. The reviews he had gotten from the judges were markedly weaker than the other contestants.

“I don’t think you’ll be making records like this and it’s not your world,” said judge Jake Gold. “Valiant effort, but it’s not your thing.”

Still, d’Eon’s down-to-earth nature came through as he laughed out loud while judge Zack Werner gave his take on d’Eon’s performance of I Get a Kick Out of You.

“I can see you in a Vietnam movie in a cut-off shirt holding a machine gun, but I can’t necessarily see you as a crooner doing that tuner,” he told him.

All the judges, on the other hand, liked the flashy white suit d’Eon wore for his second song, which, along with the musical genre, was a departure from the wardrobe he usually wore on the show. Asked by host Ben Mulroney if he had ever pictured himself standing on a stage singing Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable, d’Eon remarked, “Not in this lifetime.”

Another reason d’Eon’s departure didn’t come as a big surprise was his supporters had complained about how difficult it was for them to get their votes through because of busy signals, which had started to become more prevalent on voting nights two weeks earlier but seemed to take the form of a brick wall on Monday night.

Despite a solid two hours of voting time, some supporters said they were lucky to get in a few dozen votes ¬– and some struggled to get even that – whereas earlier in the competition they’d get hundreds through.

So just like people had their different reasons for voting for d’Eon – there are those that supported him because they are fans of his singing and musical abilities, there are those that supported him because he was the home-town guy on the show and there are those that supported him because of a combination of the two – they’ll also have their reasons or beliefs for why his Idol run ended – either because at this stage of the competition he was the weakest of the competitors, or because the phone system let them, and as a result d’Eon, down.

Still, there is no arguing that d’Eon’s stint on the show stirred up a lot of community pride.

Asked if he had any parting advice for d’Eon, judge Farley Flex said, “What I would suggest to you is that you squeeze every single ounce of this opportunity and bottle it and take it on your journey as a musician. Whatever happens tonight take that and go forward and multiply.”

D’Eon had always said through the competition he saw Canadian Idol as an opportunity. Now his fans will wait to see what he does with it.

Meanwhile d’Eon and all of the Top 10 will be back on the Canadian Idol stage on Sept. 11 for the finale show when the new Canadian Idol is crowned.

The Top 10 will also participate in a Sept. 7 Canada AM block party.

Next week the Top 3 – Jaydee Bixby, Brian Melo and Carly Rae Jepsen – will each sing two songs, one chosen by the judges and another voted on by viewers.





NOTE TO READERS OF THE YARMOUTH VANGUARD AND THE SHELBURNE COAST GUARD, WATCH FOR AN UPCOMING SPECIAL SOUVENIR PRINT EDITION ON DWIGHT D'EON'S CANADIAN IDOL RUN IN THESE NEWSPAPERS.