Down at the Wild Coast Sun in KZN as 95 golden ticket winners made it to Theatre Week.
Unathi believes that the auditions tour brought out a diverse group of people and therefore presented an interesting theatre week, while Randall thought his fellow judges were too lenient on giving out tickets.
"Let's hope that (the contestants with) potential take the next step otherwise there will be some extremely unhappy people," he said.
With the green chairs, red chair and blue chairs placed out, contestants were each sent to a specific chair colour based on their performance.
But to confuse them even more, the red chair contestants were further divided between blue and green, sending the green chair occupants home and saving the blue. Day one of theatre week saw 47 contestants go home.
The look of utter BETRAYAL on Nokwethemba's face though. 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/Zfxp2aL4M1 pic.twitter.com/7bP6gx85nC
— Idols South Africa (@IdolsSA) August 5, 2018
The next step was the group challenge which was the true test of talent. 12 groups of 4 were formed and the selection of songs was done. Theatre week which known for surprises, pulled one over on the contestants by announcing their performances as a sing-off, two against two.
The pressure immediately sky-rocketed leaving some in a panic mode and not bein able to handle the pressure.
Tumi consoles a devastated Serrano. "I'M SO SORRY" she repeats. She clearly feels responsible for THIS: https://t.co/tmjQL9EiCH #IdolsSA pic.twitter.com/RZMogWslry
— Idols South Africa (@IdolsSA) August 5, 2018
"With group round, the aim is to see if our contestants can handle the pressure. Usually, when it is groups of three or four, contestants can hide behind the others in the team...but this time it is duets, there is no place to hide," said Unathi.
Exhaustion and nerves resulted in some forgetting their lyrics and emotions rising. Another contestant, who couldn't handle the pressure, Anele who went AWOL during rehearsals left his partner stranded.
Performance day was proof of how some succumbed to the pressure with Anele and his partner being eliminated along with the first performing acts Karen, Viwo, Noxolo and Brandon, all being sent home.
The bad news didn't end there, as Sandile, Thembelihle, Ndumi, Tumi and Serrato and Philisiwe who sacrificed school for the competition were also eliminated.
Londy, Mthandeni, Dineo and Victor's performances got Unathi and Somizi in stitches and tears because of how south their performances went.
Victor, Dineo, Mondli & Bulelwa have been sent packing! Can we really blame the Judges though? FULL clip here: https://t.co/NzfYldAjGH #IdolsSA pic.twitter.com/1tRFOaLSzq
— Idols South Africa (@IdolsSA) August 5, 2018
A na na na na. AOWA guys #IdolsSA pic.twitter.com/5CBtSL9Vyp
— Bae Mashilo 🇩🇪 (@BaeMashilo) August 5, 2018
Unathi then gave the competition a twist by bringing back two guys who were cut out, but will only find out who in next week's Idols season 14 Theatre auditions.
By the end, 17 contestants were sent home, leaving 31 to battle it out in the solo round for a spot in the top 16.
LISTEN! King B & Ntokozo were paying attention when @Somizi said "sing like you're HUNGRY"! Watch their stunning cover of @NaughtyBoyMusic& @Beyonce's 'Runnin' (Lose It All) here: https://t.co/PKZbn77oRK #IdolsSA pic.twitter.com/MEvt8vR9ZJ
— Idols South Africa (@IdolsSA) August 5, 2018
RT if Nqoba and Xae gave you goosebumps with @SamSmithWorld's 'Lay Me Down'! FULL performance here: https://t.co/6dAJRgQAZo #IdolsSA pic.twitter.com/eCu9aIMM6I
— Idols South Africa (@IdolsSA) August 5, 2018
Now THAT's what you call a battle! Treasure, Nosipho, Dalene & Snenhlanhla are ALL going through! Watch the full performance here: https://t.co/iVt5GHhCNp #IdolsSA pic.twitter.com/9fvAJzCyVO