Idols South Africa III was the third season of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n reality

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 interactive talent show based on the British talent show Pop Idol

Pop Idol

Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...

. It was running from August to November 2005.
All four judges returned for another season. After one season Letoya Makhen left the show making Colin Moss the only host similar to Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan John Seacrest is an American radio personality, television host, network producer and voice actor. He is the host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, a nationally syndicated Top 40 radio show that airs on KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and throughout the United States and Canada on Premiere Radio Networks,...

 on American Idol

American Idol

American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

.
For the first time the semifinal groups where divided into genders. As there were only six males who made it to the top 24, only one group was male though. This resulted in a top 12 with only two males for a second year in a row. There was no wildcard show held. Instead the judges each chose one contestant who was not voted in the top 12 directly in the group phase.
Viewer outrage ensued following the elimination of Nhlanhla Mwelse after it was revealed that the 4 judges had a 49% leverage to the total weekly votes & that this happened since the start of the semi finals. Before the series started, it was portrayed that the viewers would account for 100% of the total vote this year compared to the judges' 40% in season 1 & 2.
Karin Kortje, a young mother from Grabouw

Grabouw

Grabouw is a mid-sized town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa some 65 km south-east of Cape Town along the N2 highway. It is located over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West in the Elgin Valley, which is sandwiched between the Hottentots-Holland, Kogelberg and Groenland...

, Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 wowed the audience and judges with her big voice and won the final against Gift Gwe with 62.58% and was also leading throughout the competition by a landside. However Kortje was not so lucky in her personal life after the contest ended as her boyfriend was charged of robbery and murder just months after the show. In difference to the other finalists of her season, Kortje was not invited to take part of the final of the next season.

Finalists

(ages stated at time of contest)

Contestant	Age	Hometown	Voted Off
Karin Kortje Karin Kortje Karin Kortje is the winner of the third season of Idols in South Africa.With her in the final was Gift Gwe.After announcing the winner on 27 November 2005, M-Net released the voting results for the top 12...	26	Grabouw Grabouw Grabouw is a mid-sized town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa some 65 km south-east of Cape Town along the N2 highway. It is located over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West in the Elgin Valley, which is sandwiched between the Hottentots-Holland, Kogelberg and Groenland... , Cape Town Cape Town Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...	Winner
Gift Gwe	21	Bishop, Mossel Bay Mossel Bay Mossel Bay is a harbour town of about 130,000 people on the Southern Cape of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province...	Nov 27, 2005
Veronique "Nicky" de Lange Veronique de Lange Veronique de Lange , also known as Nicky , is a singer who rose to popularity after placing 3rd in season 3 of Idols, the South African version of Pop Idol, shown by M-Net. She currently lives in Bloemfontein, but has plans to relocate to Johannesburg...	17	Bloemfontein Bloemfontein Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...	Nov 21, 2005
Veronique "V" Lalouette	23	Randpark Ridge Randpark Ridge Randpark Ridge is a suburb of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in the Roodepoort region of the Johannesburg metropolitan council. It fell into the town of Randburg during the apartheid era... , Johannesburg Johannesburg Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
Nhlanhla Mwelase	22	Springs, Gauteng Springs, Gauteng Springs is a city on the East Rand in the Gauteng province of South Africa.It lies 50 km east of Johannesburg. The name of the city derives from the large number of springs in the area; it has a population of more than 200,000, and is situated at 5,340 ft a.s.l...	Nov 14, 2005
Ayanda Mpama	21	Seaview, KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....	Nov 07, 2005
Deidré Visser	17	Centurion Centurion, Gauteng Centurion is an area with 279,430 inhabitants in Gauteng Province of South Africa, located between Pretoria and Midrand . Formerly an independent municipality, with its own town council, it is now part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality... , Pretoria Pretoria Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...	Oct 31, 2005
Martelize Van Niekerk	19	Kuilsrivier
Kesha Charlton-Perkins	18	Randburg, Johannesburg Johannesburg Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...	Oct 17, 2005
Pume Zondi	19	Wybank, Pinetown Pinetown Pinetown is a small city just inland from Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Pinetown is situated 16 km west of Durban at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,300 feet . It was established in 1850 around the Wayside Hotel, itself built the year before along the main wagon route between Durban and...	Oct 10, 2005
Bonolo Molosiwa	24	Randpark Ridge Randpark Ridge Randpark Ridge is a suburb of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in the Roodepoort region of the Johannesburg metropolitan council. It fell into the town of Randburg during the apartheid era... , Johannesburg Johannesburg Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...	Oct 03, 2005
Jamie-Lee Blokdyk	19	Magaliesburg	Sep 26, 2005

Themes

• September 26: Hits 2000
• October 3: Number 1 Hits
• October 10: Film Songs
• October 17: Viewers Choice
• October 31: Video Hits
• November 7: Judges Choice
• November 14: My Idols
• November 21: Great Songs
• November 27: Grand Finale

Elimination Chart

Legend

Did Not Perform	Female	Male	Top 24	Wild Card	Top 12	Winner

Safe

Bottom 3

Bottom 2

Eliminated

Stage:		Semi					Finals
Week:		08/30	09/06	09/12	09/19		09/26	10/03	10/10	10/17	10/31	11/07	11/14	11/21	11/27
Place	Contestant	Result
1	Karin Kortje Karin Kortje Karin Kortje is the winner of the third season of Idols in South Africa.With her in the final was Gift Gwe.After announcing the winner on 27 November 2005, M-Net released the voting results for the top 12...		1st												Winner
2	Gift Gwe			2nd									Btm 2		Runner-Up
3-4	Veronique de Lange Veronique de Lange Veronique de Lange , also known as Nicky , is a singer who rose to popularity after placing 3rd in season 3 of Idols, the South African version of Pop Idol, shown by M-Net. She currently lives in Bloemfontein, but has plans to relocate to Johannesburg...	Elim				Saved								Elim
	Veronique Lalouette				2nd							Btm 3
5	Nhlanhla Mwelse			2nd					Btm 3			Btm 2	Elim
6	Ayanda Mpama				Elim	Saved	Btm 3	Btm 2			Btm 3	Elim
7-8	Deidré Visser	1st								Btm 3	Elim
	Martelize Van Niekerk		2nd							Btm 2
9	Kesha Charlton-Perkins				1st				Btm 2	Elim
10	Pume Zondi	2nd						Btm 3	Elim
11	Bonolo Molosiwa	Elim				Saved	Btm 2	Elim
12	Jamie-Lee Blokdyk		Elim			Saved	Elim
Semi- Final 4	Bianca Bronn				Elim
	Nthabiseng Roro
	Tumelo Thulare
Semi- Final 3	Bjorn Hartnick			Elim
	Callan Maloney
	Mthawelang Nkozo
	Roomie Noval
Semi- Final 2	Berenice Voigt		Elim
	Jessica Lourenco
	Karabo Moleke
Semi- Final 1	Cecile du Preez	Elim
	Nosipho Zwane

External links

• Idols III website