Singapore Idol was a Singaporean reality television singing competition produced by MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV. It began airing on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 9 August 2004 until 27 December 2009, as an addition to the Idol franchise based on the British show Pop Idol, and became one of the most popular shows in the history of Singaporean television. The concept of the series is to find new solo recording artists where the winner is determined by the viewers. The series employed a panel of judges who critique the contestants' performances. The original four judges during season 1 were singer/songwriter Dick Lee, Florence Lian, record producer Ken Lim and singer Douglas Oliverio. In season 2, all the judges from season 1 returned to the show except for Oliverio who was replaced by singer Jacintha Abisheganaden. In season 3, Abisheganaden left the judging panel and the rest of the judges returned to the show. From the start, the show has been hosted by Singapore celebrity and funnyman Gurmit Singh. Radio deejay Daniel Ong was the co-host of the show for season 2, while season 2 winner Hady Mirza replaced him as the co-host during season 3. Through telephone and SMS text voting, Singaporean viewers chose Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza and Sezairi Sezali as winners throughout the three seasons. Season 1 (2004) Season 1 of Singapore Idol premiered on the National Day of Singapore (9 August) in 2004. This season produced a few memorable, albeit notorious, performers during the audition round. They included Skyy Sia aka Bananaman, who wore a mask of watermelon and bananas; Kelvin Sim, who accompanied his very bad rendition of Fool's Garden's "Lemon Tree" with a dance that rivalled that of William Hung; and Patrick Khoo, who literally whispered George Michael's "Careless Whisper". As with other shows in the Idol series, the viewers' votes decide who goes on to the next round. This has always produced controversial results in every singing competition. In the third preliminary round, Jerry Ong, whose singing was described by judge Florence Lian as being "constipated" and "weak", was voted through to the finals, beating favourites Beverly Lim Morata and Nur "Nana" Hasanah, both of whom were thought to be better singers. Candice Foo, who got into the finals from the second preliminary round, withdrew from the contest at the last minute due to "financial difficulties". In a bigger upset, Jeassea K. Thyidor,