Yellowknife (May 12/06) - Two Northerners are going to Toronto for this season of Canadian Idol, but no one is allowed to know who they are... yet.

Renee Dupuis, senior publicist with CTV, the network behind Idol, said the show will keep the names of the 212 finalists (who will be whittled down to 22 by the end of the week) under wraps until the show's May 29 premiere.

Host Ben Mulroney poses with "Canadian Idol" hopefuls outside of the Explorer Hotel during tryouts in March. Two Northern singers were given "golden tickets" to the final 212 of the competition, which saw more than 12,000 hopefuls try out. - NNSL file photo

She said this secrecy is necessary to maintain the "reality" of the show, as early episodes feature taped footage of Idol's February tour across Canada, leading up to the unveiling of the "final 200."

One hundred and five competitors from across the North turned out for the Yellowknife tryouts on Feb 23, (compared to 50 in Whitehorse the previous year). Only six of those were given "blue tickets" to Vancouver, where they faced Idol's on-screen judges: music industry veterans Farley Flex, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan and Zack Werner. Two unknown performers from this group were given "golden tickets" to Toronto. The six were Inuvik's Allyssa Waser, and Yellowknife's Becky Brotherston, Morgan Moffitt, Sarah Von Hagen, Noel Taylor and Aaron "Godson" Hernandez.

"I know who (the finalists) are, but I can't tell you," Godson said, as exposing the two could result in them being kicked off the show prematurely.

"I didn't go through because I can't sing," the rapper said, though he would find success in a different way.

After hearing Godson rap the show's producers asked him to compose a song and star in a music video for the season's premiere. Neither Godson nor Dupuis are sure how the material will be used, but if it does appear, it will be Godson's first taste of national exposure.

Brotherston said she didn't make the cut either, though she doesn't plan to let that stop her.

"I didn't make it because I didn't fight for it," she said. "They said I have a beautiful voice, but 'it's not right for the competition.'"

She is certain she could move on next year, so long as she doesn't take "no" for an answer. That leaves four possibilities. One of the frontrunners at the Yellowknife tryout was Inuvik's Waser, who was the only contestant given a blue ticket immediately after her audition.

The other five finalists were called later in the day.

Other members of the Vancouver group could not be reached by press time, though Yellowknifer was told they would be "unlikely to comment."

Dupuis said even when the "final 200" were announced, media access would be restricted, so that no contestant would have an advantage over any other. "We don't want the public to be influenced by media coverage," she said. "It's about the performers and their performances."