15 YEARS ON AND THE CRACKS ARE STARTING TO SHOW AT IDOL
It’s hard to believe, but this month marks 15 years since Australian Idol first hit our screens in an unforgettable debut series of tears, tantrums and harsh truths.
Paulini’s infamous gold dress, judges Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson and Mark Holden’s public spat, and Shannon Noll’s What About Me song choice are just a few of the now memorable moments that kept the fans tuning in.
But it seems that after all this time, some of the music reality TV show’s famous faces are still hung up on the past. Rather than celebrating the talent show’s anniversary, they have started to turn on each other in what is becoming one of TV’S ugliest war of words.
Suffering vicious attacks from her Idol co-stars, Cosima De Vito – who bowed out of the competition because of serious health concerns – has come under fire from record producer before making it to the finish.
‘I’ll be honest I was quite upset and even felt a little betrayed because I thought maybe after 15 years we could all put it behind us and I would get a little bit more compassion about what I went through,’ says Cosima in an exclusive interview with New Idea. ‘Clearly Mark will always think that I didn’t deserve to be there and his comments were cold.’
It was as she took to the stage for the show’s semi-final in 2003 that Cosima, now 41, shocked fans by announcing her departure and revealing her secret health concerns to the viewers. It was a move she maintains she wanted to do before that night, but explains she was made to wait to make the exit more dramatic.
‘Everyone, including Mark, knew the struggles I had with my voice,’ she says.
‘The judges knew what