Cape Town - Producers of talent show Idols Season 8 have denied that interest in the show is on the wane, reports sowetanlive.co.za
Even though the number of golden ticket holders was down, M-Net has insisted the judges sought to find "quality over quantity", said the newspaper.
M-net spokesperson Lani Lombard said: "Even though there are fewer golden ticket winners this year, we believe that the overall standard is higher than in previous years.
"The judges don't keep tabs of the number of contestants going through as they base their decisions on the audition of the singer in front of them."
More venues?
This year the show handed out 89 golden tickets for the theatre phase in Sun City while in the past three seasons they handed out an average of 99 tickets.
"There were more venues during previous seasons, which contributed to higher numbers, and auditions had 'exceeded expectations'," Lombard told Sowetanlive.co.za.
Apart from the traditional big cities, this year's auditions were also held in Soweto's Walter Sisulu Hall to try and encourage Sowetans to participate.
