JB- On the flip side of that, is there maybe one song or one moment or one choice that you made that you think maybe hurt you in the competition?

MM- It's hard to say "hurt me" because I got here and I made it this far. It was pretty cool that I was in the bottom 3 before and that kind of just showed me that I've got to just keep doing what I'm doing. I'd rather be in the bottom now than previously because it's not like you're in the bottom 3 and you can come back. It's one or the other. Either you're going to win or you're going to lose and you've gotta be prepared for both. And I was totally prepared for that tonight.

JB- OK, we're going to be doing some quick hits. We were taking questions online throughout the show. Which mentor gave you the best advice?

MM- Wow. I have to say Anne Murray.

JB- What did she say?

MM- She just really helped me with some breathing patterns. It's really hard to pick, you know. There was a bunch of great tips from everybody but she was just very constructive right off the bat. It was like "try this", you know what I mean? And it helped me. I've been practicing my breathing patterns because it's really important and people might not know that. Breathing is one of the biggest parts of singing.

JB- And living.

MM- And living. (laughing)

Jeremy Bradley- Mitch, you got the results just moments ago. Upset, happy, relieved - what are you feeling?

Mitch MacDonald- Happy for Theo, for sure. I'm happy to make it this far. But I did come into tonight with a plan either way. I think that's the most important thing - to keep the ball rolling and that's what I'm going to try to do. It's relief that all this craziness has come to an end but I'm also happy that it's the start of a career in music.

JB- You'll be able to sleep again!

MM- You got it, man!

JB- So it's not really a loss. I mean, we see it every year that you don't have to win the show to be successful. We've seen it with the American Idol curse that sometimes the runner-up does better than the winner. How do you feel about coming in second? You've developed a great friendship with Theo, so it's not necessarily a bad thing then, is it?

MM- No, no. Because for me, and for Theo too, it wasn't really a competition against one another. It was a competition within ourselves to do as best we could. We achieved that on Monday. But I look at one thing that gives me true faith is, you know, you look at Jacob Hoggard (of Hedley), he came third I think and look at him now. And for him to be on the show and give us the mentoring kind of thing - there's a guy that's a couple years older than us and it's not out of reach. You've got to work hard to do it. I'm going to do whatever I can. But it's all good. Theo, he worked hard at this and I truly think he deserves it. He's a great guy and a fabulous musician.

JB- We know at this point the two people in the finals have what it takes, they have the talent, it's now about making the most of this opportunity that Idol has presented to you.

MM- Totally. It's all about keeping the ball rolling. We got all this exposure over the last few months and to be the final 2 you really have to do what you can because you got all this fan base and all of a sudden they're not going to be seeing us on TV, so I think it's really important to get back to writing and collaborating with artists and figuring out what the next step is because there's hungry fans out there and hopefully in the next while I'll be putting an album out myself and, you know, it's going to take some time to make that as quality as I can but not too long because you don't want the fan base to settle down. So that's the plan for me: go back to Cape Breton and plan the next step of this adventure in music.

JB- Prior to us chatting, you mentioned to reporters that you're very laid back. In fact, you entered the media room and asked, "Why is it so quiet in here?" Coming into tonight's show, were you nervous as hell?

MM- No, I was very relaxed, actually. I don't know why I am this way. I'm just a relaxed guy. There's been times in the competition where I get nervous right before I sing. But I think it was the week I sang "Love this Town" by Joel Plaskett. It showed me that I can stay true to myself with the music that I like and still continue on in the competition and Canada was a fan of that music even though it wasn't so popular. It just showed I can do what I love to do and just continue on the journey so I kept on doing that and here I am, so it's a great feeling.

JB- Was that your turning point?

MM- Totally 100 per cent that was my turning point. I went through a rough week that week because the previous two weeks I didn't get the greatest props from the judges and it made me feel that I really had to impress them by singing some well-known songs forever. And I did all my rehearsals that week with a different song and I just didn't have a right feeling. I said, "Frig' it, I'm doing what I love to do, what I'm passionate about. It's a song that not a lot of people know but I love it and I went up there and I did it and the judges loved it and Canada obviously loved it because they put me through to the next week and I'm still here, so that was my turning point.