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Season 12 of the popular singing competition, Idols kicked off with a bang on Sunday with the shock of seeing someone faint on television creating a storm on social media.
This came after Nqobile Gumede (18) from KwaMashu, north of Durban, collapsed during the opening episode after being rejected by the judges.
Unathi Msengana rushed to help the teenager while the other judges just sat and stared. Then Gareth Cliff got up and fetched the paramedics.
Radio personality Azania Mosaka tweeted: “Where was the urgency on set? Carry on shooting rather than jump to help?”
Political analyst and radio host Eusebius McKaiser wrote: “I’m not sure Idols SA needed to show that young lady fainting. There was no need to traumatise her again.”
A user named Miliswa wrote: “This scripted Idols SA is cringeworthy. Why did you do this?”
When asked if they had taken too long to respond, Idols SA head of PR Nondumiso Mabece said: “When the incident happened on February 3, she was immediately rushed to hospital with a member of the production crew by her side. Her family was notified and I immediately contacted her mum.
“The hospital cleared Nqobile as not having sustained any injuries and they confirmed she had not had breakfast and was extremely anxious about her audition.”
Before her audition, Nqobile told the judges she had been accepted to study medicine at Wits, but would consider putting her studies on hold if she got a golden ticket.
Meanwhile, Season 12 launched with a little insert of Gareth Cliff’s court case and took the route of making light of the entire situation.
The coastal city of Durban managed to clinch 19 golden tickets. – DailySun
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo