Kyle Sandilands made an emotional admission as Amy Shark awarded a “Fast Pass” to an “underdog” talent on Monday night’s episode of Australian Idol.
Supermarket trolley collector Isaac, who moved judges at his first audition by revealing he had experienced homelessness, has raw natural talent.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Kyle’s emotional admission as Amy Shark awards a Fast Pass.
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But after his powerful audition, he followed up with somewhat less impressive performances, forgetting lyrics to one song and admitting he had under prepared.
Because of his natural talent, he made it through to Transformation Week, but the pressure was on to wow the judges — and remember his lyrics.
Performing James Arthur’s Say You Won’t Let Go, Isaac was determined to show he was worth the risk the judges took in keeping him in the competition — and they weren’t disappointed.
Isaac gave a heartfelt, note-perfect performance, remembered all his lines, and had stage presence to boot.
After the rapturous crowd applause died down, Sandilands was the first to give his verdict.
“I love your voice, and you’ve got this gift that I don’t think you really know you have,” he began.
Sandilands then revealed that his wife had scolded him for his lack of sympathy when Isaac had forgotten the lyrics in his previous performance.
“I was watching that back, and then I remembered, you and I have got something in common — the homelessness,” he said.
On last year’s series, Sandilands revealed he had been homeless for a period in his younger days, doing a lot of couch-surfing, as Isaac had also done.
“You were homeless, I was homeless, and I forget sometimes how invisible we want to feel when we’re there,” he told Isaac, who nodded in agreement, saying “100 per cent.”
“You want to shrink into the smallest thing, you don’t want to be noticed, you don’t want to speak — you just want to live,” Sandilands continued, looking emotional.
“You’re out of that situation, you’re here, you’ve gotta take every opportunity because you do have something special.
“And we want to hear what you’ve got to say.
“Don’t be quiet, don’t be nervous, just be you because you really have something special, man, and I think you did a great job.”
If that wasn’t validation enough, Shark was about to do something that brought tears to Isaac’s eyes.
“I’ve had a soft spot for you from the moment we met because you’re an underdog,” she told him.
“To see you shine tonight was just so incredible.
“Just to know where you’ve come from — we need to protect people like you.
“I’m just so floored by how you look, how you walked around the stage, how you found the stillness, how you were so confident.
“I feel like I want to give you something,” she added, hinting that she was about to send him straight through to the Top 12.
As the crowd erupted into cheers, she added: “Isaac, I want to give you my Fast Pass!”
Wiping away a tear, Isaac looked truly blown away.
“Thank you!” he said, rubbing his eyes before running over to give Shark a hug.
The cameras panned to Isaac’s family in the audience, who were all standing up and crying.
Co-host Ricki-Lee Coulter admitted she was feeling emotional.
“Kyle had me crying, now Amy’s got me crying!” she said, congratulating Isaac.
“Thank you so much guys,” he said, to more cheers from the audience.
“How do you feel?” Coulter asked
“Oh, I just got a tear in me eye!” he said.
“It’s so hard to hold the tears back.”
At this point, it was Marcia Hines’ turn for a compliment.
“You know what, boyfriend?” she said.
“You are all that, AND a bag of chips!”
Australian Idol continues Tuesday 7.30pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
