When Australian Idol host Scott Tweedie got a tap on the shoulder from judge Marcia Hines – his co-worker and friend who has long been trying to set him up romantically – he knew the jig was up.
“She tapped me on the shoulder when we had just started the live shows again, and she said, ‘I see you, and you look happy. You look really happy,’” Scott tells TV WEEK with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Oh, she’s so onto me – she can feel my energy.’”
That new smile and noticeably brighter energy all comes down to Scott’s new girlfriend. While he’s keeping her identity under wraps for now, he admits things are going very well… and Marcia will soon meet the woman causing him to glow.
“The great meet-cute between Marcia and my new partner hasn’t happened yet,” the 38-year-old reveals. “But she’s due to come out to Idol HQ for a live show very soon. Her meeting Marcia, I think, is more pressure than her meeting my parents.”
Back in the Idol world, there is pressure mounting of a different kind, with the competition ramping up as the grand finale approaches.
“The competition just gets harder and harder for [the contestants],” he explains. “They’re getting more confident on stage, getting closer with the [other] contestants, and then they’ve got the crazy rush of publicity, learning new songs, new arrangements with the band – all while trying to be their best to stay in the competition. I honestly feel so sorry for them.”
And while Scott says the level of talent this season is incredibly high, he admits there’s one elimination he still can’t quite get past.
“Australia votes for who they want to stay and go, and I feel sometimes they get it really wrong,” he says. “I think the most impressive improvement in an artist we’ve had who got sent home too early was Wanwue.
“She was just showing so much versatility in her performance, her confidence, her stage presence – and I think she had more to show. So that was disappointing.”
Australian Idol airs on Channel Seven and 7plus on Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm.