Jeremy Bradley- So, first off give me a sports analogy to describe this point of the competition.

Farley Flex- Well, there have been a couple of similar surprises in terms of who's rising to the occasion and that kind of thing. Brian Melo and Carly Rae are certainly deserved of the final four and the favourite, which could have been North Carolina or Duke or whomever. Greg Neufeld was upset a couple of years ago, as you know. The big boy, Matt, with all the power, left the competition last week, so hopefully he'll find his way towards the pros.

JB- The guy with all the power, you're meaning (fellow Idol judge) Zack (Werner), of course?

FF- (laughing) Hardly. Our good friend, Matt Rapley.

JB- Now are you seeing a difference in the calibre of performance from year to year?

FF- Yes, I wouldn't say calibre in terms of quality, but I would say categorically. Certainly the implementation of instruments made a difference in terms of the more the singer-songwriter types, people who've possibly done a little more live performance and have a little more experience in that way. People like Brian and Greg Neufeld were out there doing shows prior to auditioning for the show. I think we're definitely getting a deeper pool of people and also maybe a higher percentage of the 10 or 12 or 15 thousand people who have more experience as entertainers. I'd say that's probably changed.

JB- You did mention the instruments. This is the first time, of course, contestants were allowed to bring them into the initial audition and now they're using them onstage. Why does that make such a big difference in the way a person performs?

FF- I think what happens is when you a play an instrument and you're out and in a band, or even if you're playing in one local spot in your community or whatever . . . what I think happens is that there's a comfort zone that you develop as an entertainer and that impacts your approach and your understanding of the dynamics in the various spaces that we put them in. So when they come into the top 22 on the big stage and all that type stuff, they might be a little more psychologically ready than someone who has been taking singing lessons and who may have done the odd school play. People who are out there playing tend to play more frequently. The only word for that is experience, right?

JB- Is there a hands-down winner for you at this point?

FF- I don't know if it's hands down, because it's never hands down on a show. There are so many factors. But for me in terms of what I like and in terms of what I'm seeing, I'm really impressed with Brian Melo's rise and consistency and intelligence in terms of song selection. So he's certainly . . . he was what appeared to be in jeopardy a couple shows earlier in the top 10, but I think his community is certainly rallying and I think he may have translated beyond the regional translation that we know sometimes exists, right?

JB- So what we're seeing now is that people have to be multi-talented in terms of what they can do on stage. You're mentioning play an instrument or dance or something.

FF- They don't necessarily have to be multi-talented, because that singular vocal type person . . . Martha Joy would be an example of someone who might potentially be a great singer, but I think that the style of her, the category that she was in in terms of her learning curve to become an entertainer was to sing in a particular way like a particular artist who sings that song and it was very difficult to connect with her the same way that you connect with someone who writes their own songs or things like that.

When Brian Melo and Greg Neufeld and Carly (Rae Jepsen) - the people who are really good at emoting, right? - they tend to be the people who write their own songs and have performed in anything from intimate circumstances to broader circumstances. They just get it a little better in terms of how to use the stage, how to engage people as human beings, not necessarily as superstar to audience but just on the human level.

JB- You mentioned Greg, he obviously got ripped off this season from the judge's point of view it seemed. Why do you think that happened, and who else got voted out too soon? I mean, eventually almost everybody has to get voted out anyway.

FF- Yeah, everybody but the winner gets voted out too soon.

JB- Was it Greg's time, or what happened?

FF- Canadians have been pretty accurate throughout, so I hesitate to blame Canada on that kind of thing. What I would say is that Greg was pretty consistent at a high level, at a high quality level, but possibly safe in what he was doing week to week. I think it's great from a recording artist's standpoint for sure, but on the show I think people thought he was maybe too safe based on the accolades we were giving him and maybe too perfect for Canada in some respects.

I think you need virtues and imperfections as well to be appealing in some cases, and he was close to being flawless in a lot of respects. It's weird, because from an Idol perspective that may certainly not be the best thing, but from a recording artist perspective the guy's got a tremendous future. And he's just got to stay positive and use all of this to benefit his career.

In terms of why he got voted off, who knows? Who knows how fervently his community was voting and how well he translated nationally? There are so many factors, but it's important, I think, at the end of this to remember that the ultimate goal is to sell records, sell CDs, sell yourself as a brand, and I think he branded himself really well and he just has to use that momentum to go far with it.