[imagesource: YouTube / American Idol]

Late last year, the 16th season of South Africa’s Idols show wrapped up.

That means 16 seasons of Randall Abrahams on our screens. Hasn’t the country suffered enough?

In the US, they’re onto season 19, which kicked off last month, when nearly seven million Americans tuned in to watch the show’s premiere.

That’s down from more than eight million for season 18, and way down from a peak of more than 37 million in 2007, so maybe we’re nearing the end game.

Anyway, perhaps the most viral moment of season 19 thus far involves contestants Ronda Felton and Funke Lagoke, who performed a duet of ‘Tell Him’, which was originally recorded by Barbra Streisand.

Following their duet, Lionel Richie was providing some feedback, with words like “trainwreck” and “crashed and burned” being thrown around.

It was all too much for Funke, who went down, having fainted, with her face striking the stage.

Their performance starts from around the 2:10 mark, and the fainting from just after five minutes:

According to the show’s producers, Funke was taken out in a stretcher and put in an ambulance, where she was treated for dehydration and later released.

Pleading for a second chance with the judges doesn’t usually work, but perhaps fainting is the way to go.

After Funke went down, Lionel informed Ronda that they would both advance to the next round, which is a bit of a reversal on what he had said prior to the fall.

Still, Funke is unhappy that the show’s producers chose to focus on her fall, and took to Instagram to share her views.

This from GHK:

“As a performer, you want to be highlighted in the best way possible. And every time I was reminded that I was going to get showcased for this fall, the line I keep telling myself is, ‘I am so much more than my fall. I am so much more than my fall.’ I come with so much more, those that know me know that, and I pray that America and whoever saw this saw that even when we fall in life we’re gonna get back up again, and we’re going to fight for another day. Because that was not how I wanted to be presented the first time…”

But without the fall, she would probably be out of the competition, so every cloud and all that.

Funke says she received three stitches and called the experience “traumatic”.

She also posted a number of photos with the hashtag #IamMoreThanMyFall, such as:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Funmike Lagoke (@funkelagoke)

Sorry, but I’m not sure I can root for somebody who quotes themselves on social media.

Thankfully, I won’t have to, because if all goes to plan this will be the last we hear of American Idol.

[source:ghk]