Halifax’s Blackhall booted from Idol

By TIM ARSENAULTTelevision Reporter | 6:09 AM

Halifax’s Naomi-Joy Blackhall showed her range during her two weeks on Canadian Idol but it proved too much for voting viewers.

Blackhall, 25, was one of four contestants eliminated during Wednesday’s results episode of the CTV singing contest. Fourteen contenders remain in the hunt for the Idol title.

"I’m a little sad but I’m doing OK," said Blackhall during a phone interview from Toronto on Thursday.

"It’s nerve-wracking. You don’t want to go home but you also don’t want everyone else who’s up there with you to go home. At least that’s how I was feeling."

On Tuesday’s performance episode she sang Dido’s Here with Me, which left a much mellower impression than the previous week’s version of Judgement Day by ’80s hair band Whitesnake. That obscure hard rock song put her in the bottom four women in the first week of the Top 22.

Blackhall, an account manager for an office supply company who was born in Toronto and studied at the University of Windsor before moving to Halifax, endured several harsh comments from the judging panel.

"Well, after last week, I think anything would be an improvement. It’s not meant to be disrespectful but I honestly think in the last two weeks you’ve proven that you just don’t sing that well," said Zack Werner after Tuesday’s performance.

The network says about two million telephone votes were cast this week. After the results were announced, Blackhall said on the telecast that song selection may have played a part in her elimination.

"It’s really hard to say, you know. I think the two songs I sang probably weren’t as recognizable to the voting public and that’s understandable. That could be part of it," she said.

As for her future, it will definitely include music, including a fall fundraiser in Halifax to raise money to fight breast cancer.

"I’m not so worried primarily because I know that I have something to go home to musically," said Blackhall, who’s looking forward to writing fresh material and forming a new band.

West Pubnico’s Dwight d’Eon, 28, was put under pressure Wednesday when he landed among the bottom four male vote-getters but will return next week with Lake Ainslie’s Tyler Mullendore, 19, when the seven remaining guys attempt to squeeze into the five spots reserved for them in the Top 10.