Australian Idol 2025 host Ricki-Lee Coulter has dished the details about which of this year’s contestants she thinks will be successful this season.
So far, the season has seen some hauntingly beautiful performers during the first week of auditions, and multiple golden tickets have already been snapped up.
While Ricki-Lee stressed during an interview with Chattr that she tries not to have favourites, she did tell us that the two contestants viewers should keep an eye on have already been sent through to the top 30.
“There’s a girl. She’s 16 years old, and her name is Iilysh [Retallick]. I was talking to her before she went into the audition room, and she was as quiet as a mouse, and I was thinking. “This girl is going to go in there, and they’re going to rip her to shreds. They’re not even going to be able to hear her talking because she’s that quiet,” Ricki-Lee told Chattr.
“And she walks into that audition room and floors everyone. She sung Alanis Morrisette‘s You Oughta Know, and it’s shocking. You just don’t expect it. She’s amazing.”
Ricki-Lee name-dropped another contestant as someone that she thinks will go far on Australian Idol 2025.
“There’s also a guy named Marshall Hamburger, who’s just incredible. I think he’s definitely one to watch.”
Does Ricki-Lee have favourite Australian Idol contestants?
Ricki-Lee made it to the top ten of Australian Idol way back in 2004 as a contestant and returned as a host in 2022.
Having been on the other side of the judges when she was younger, Rick-Leei told Chattr that she can easily relate to how contestants feel.
“I know what it’s like to go through the process; everyone is always hyper-aware of everything that’s going on around them, and they read into everything.
“So if you talk more to one person, they think about that. So, I’m always conscious of making sure that everyone gets time. I have personal time with everyone. I have a chat with every single person when we first get to set.
“I go and look at everyone in the eyes, and I say, ‘Good luck’. You’re amazing. I say the same thing to everyone. So no one feels like, ‘Oh, my God. She talked to me, I’m going home.'”
However, Ricki-Lee admitted that while she does her best to be neutral, deep down, she has her favourite contestants who she hopes will go far in the competition.
“It’s hard to not have a favourite because I do have favourites,” she laughed. “Everybody connects differently to different people.”
The Australian Idol host explained that it’s the nature of the show that people are drawn to different contestants because of the style of music they like or the type of personality that the viewer is usually drawn to.
“I feel like it’s natural to have favourites.”
It sure sounds like we already know who Ricki-Lee’s favourites are this year!
Australian Idol 2025 airs Sundays at 7pm and Mondays and Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 7 and 7plus.
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