THE morning after the show's finale, exhausted Matt Corby and Natalie Gauci were bracing themselves for the battle to make it in the music world.

Speaking to Confidential, both finalists were upbeat after their big efforts the previous evening, but Corby fired a final shot at Mark Holden, who called the shire teen a "spoilt brat'' in the last days of the contest.

While scathing of the "negativity'' levelled at younger contestants this year, the 17-year-old stopped short of blaming Holden for costing him the crown.

"He's wrecked a few people's careers,'' Corby told Confidential.

"Look at Tarisai. (His comments) were definitely hard to swallow.

"Being told, when you're 17, that you're a spoilt brat, well, it isn't nice to hear that,'' Corby said. "I don't know what I did to hit such a bad chord with him but I shook his hand. Now I don't really care.''
The beaten favourite said Idol producers should consider reviewing the entry age of next year's contestants, if the same treatment followed.

"If the press are going to pound on them, yes. We were sent out into the deep end and smashed at every angle.''

Corby said he'd come to terms with the winners' track, which many said did not suit him and undermined his chances.

"I wrote a better version of it but it was too late to lay it down,'' he said, adding that three more days would have been enough time.

Meanwhile, winner Gauci hadn't even slept before critics were blogging about whether she would survive the curse of previous female Idols since being crowned.

never mind matt
onwards and upwards