In less than one week, the 2023 winner of Australian Idol will be crowned! As the contestant pool whittles down to just three, tensions between the judges are only rising.
As the most outspoken members of the panel, Harry Connick Jr. and Kyle Sandilands continue to butt heads. And, with a mere few days left of filming, things seem to have come to a boiling point live on air.
WATCH: Kyle Sandilands sings on Australian Idol. Article continues after video.
Only a week ago, Harry seemed to revive their underlying feud by mocking the co-judge in his absence. And, following Kyle’s return, the pair appeared to hash things out on air last night.
With the two seated on opposing ends of the judges’ podium, we would not have wanted to be in Amy Shark or Meghan Trainor’s central seats during the arguments!
Like most of their altercations, the arguing started during the judges’ performance feedback sessions.
16-year-old singer Amali Diamond has been a consistent contender throughout the competition, but her place in the bottom four last week has Harry Connick Jr. thinking that she may need to change things up a bit.
WATCH: Amali Diamond performs ‘Fly Away’ by Tones and I. Article continues after video.
“You’ve been a pro since day one,” Harry started with.
He then pondered, “Do the people want to go on that evolution journey with you? If so, maybe if you’re around next week, you could really throw a curveball and do something completely unproduced, completely stripped down-“
“Nuh-uh, nuh-uh,” Kyle interjected.
“I love your musical knowledge, but the contest side panics me,” the radio host continued.
Emphasising that it’s getting to the end of the competition, Kyle continued to tell Amali to stick to what she does well.
Harry, however, did not agree with this qualm, “No, but here’s the deal, I’m telling you as objectively as I can, that’s what I would do…”
“I don’t know if you understand,” he said pointedly before he was, again, cut off.
“This is what I understand you show up in a Ferrari, not a Datsun,” Kyle said.
“Therein lies the difference, I understand what Kyle’s saying but I don’t think, respectfully, you understand what I’m saying,” Harry replied.
Turning back to the other judges’ opinions, Kyle finished off their tiff by mumbling, “I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.”
WATCH: Anya Hynninen performs ‘Flowers’ by Miley Cyrus. Article continues after video.
Not backing down from the tension, Harry and Kyle continued on the same note after Anya Hynninen’s performance. Giving feedback on ‘originality’ and ‘creativity’ last week, he asserted that he still holds this belief.
Responding to this critique, Kyle said, “I think musos like to impress other musos-“
“Hold! Kyle, I gotta ask you-” Harry interjected.
“We like to sing the words that we know, the style we like, it’s a contest! This isn’t a show-off joint! This is a place where you sing to win. Win the record deal, then you go to do your ‘airy fairy’ artist farty stuff,” Kyle concluded.
Blowing off this comeback, Harry turned to fellow judge, Meghan Trainor, to ask her opinion.
Asserting that it’s ‘not important’ feedback, Harry then turned back to Kyle saying,
“Is it not important or do you not care about it?”
While the pair only have a few more nights spent together in the judging chairs, Kyle did reveal on Kyle and Jackie O that he was invited to Harry Connick Jr’s house this weekend, along with his other Idol judges. Since Meghan will not be attending, he shared his worries about who he’ll talk to when he’s there.
