Yes, you read it first here, Laura Gissara from Victoria has made Idol history in being the first Australian woman to sing an entire song out of tune in the semi finals and still be voted into the finals.

Somehow, against the laws of physics, gravity and human decency Australian voters have seen it fit to vote Laura through to the finals after Mark gave her a scathing review on last night’s semi final show.

The only possible explanation is sympathy votes, but the real question is why people would waste good money on smsing sympathy votes is beyond me as no one is able to hear their vote results unless they make it through to the top four.

***LIVE VERDICT STARTS NOW ON***
***VOTING LINES CLOSED***

Yes, tonight the votes are announced, for a number of the idol hopefuls the news will send them spiraling back to reality and to their homes and to the streets of struggle town where their dreams of idol stardom exist only in the world of “what if.

*** LIVE COMMENTARY NOW COMPLETE***

*** VOTING LINES NOW ON - VOTE NOW***

In just a few minutes the second group of idol hopefuls from our top 30 will take to the stage and show us why they should be voted through to the finals, some will be very convincing, some will batter their eyelids and hope that they can get all the teenyboppers to vote for them while others will fail dismally and crash and burn on the stage in front of the judges and the cameras.

Last week we saw Chris, Tarni and Anne make their way from the stage to the finals, who will join them this week? Only time will tell as we watch tonight’s Australian Idol!!

• Ben Worthington Will Be Singing - Tell Her About It

Ben calls this a safe song, but I can see Kyle calling this "Naff" and an "Old Person Song."

Ben is classically trained and that’s where he wants to go in life, let's just say that his classical voice is much much much better than his pop voice. This will probably suck.

• Catherine Vasilakis Will Be Singing - Cry Me A River

“If you listen to the lyrics you’ll hear my story

Tonight we'll be meeting the contestants in Group Two, will they be as cute, as exciting, as annoying and as funny as the people in Group One?

OR

Will they be more talented, better looking, funnier, more amusing and more fun to watch than Group One?

OR

Will they be a bunch of pretentious, boring, vile wannabes?

We’ll get to have a sneak peak tonight and check them out to make our own decisions prior to their performances THIS SUNDAY NIGHT. Yes, you read right, as of this weekend the performances will happen on the Sunday and the verdicts will be hosted on the Monday directly after the gig.

CONGRATULATIONS TO!!!

• Anne Robertson
• Chris Luder
• Tarni Stephens

We look forward to catching you in the finals!

The way this goes is that as the verdicts are announced I post them, so youll have to hit refresh every now and then to see how the Idols are fairing.

Tonight we'll find out the names of the first three contestants to make it into the finalists from group one. Who will be sent through? Who will be sent home? Who will cry? Who will be abused by Kyle? Who will be celebrating at the end of the night?

Looking for the voting numbers?

The Australian Idol Voting Numbers have moved to Throng

Yes that's right, we'd like to invite you to become a part of the Idolblog team.

There are a number of ways one can participate, I'm going to outline a few and, if one sounds like fun to you then just let us know.

1. The wiki
You don't have to do much to participate in the wiki, the wiki is an open source project that people can add their own information to, gradually building an encyclopedia on your favourite Idols. Just check out the information on the wiki page to learn more about how to join in.

As with Big Brother this year who found many new and beautiful ways for them to make money, (mobile phone auctions, mobile phone quiz and more) the Idol team have been racking their brains for new hair brained schemes to increase their empire.

Here's the first new idea... Idol for kiddies aged between 5 and 13.

Are you a kid with a burning musical talent who just can't wait to show your stuff on the Australian Idol stage?

Well wait no more because here's the perfect competition for you! To turn you into the hottest new child performer in Australia.

In true Idol tradition, our producers and judges will scour the nation with only one thing in mind - making you a star! And the ultimate prize - the chance to perform on the biggest show of the year - the 2005 Australian Idol Grand Final.

Here's the complete list of the songs (and lyrics) that the contestants will be singing on the 17th of August in the first ten's live performance show.

Personally, the idea of Lindsay singing a Cyndi Lauper song sends a shiver down my spine, this could be a show of high highs and devastating lows.

What do you think of the song choices?

• Anne Robertson - Home
• Chloe Zuel - Because of You