Canadian Idol: The Men Rise To The Occasion

On Tuesday night's Canadian Idol, almost all of the seven remaining guys proved that they belong in the top 10 next week.

Craig Sharpe, who opened the show with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," is a shoo-in. The song's arrangement was slightly choppy, but Sharpe's voice is almost unparalleled in the competition. As judge Farley Flex said, "You should change your name to Razor, Razor Sharpe."

Brandon Jones, on the other hand, should change his name to Dull. His vocals simply didn't cut it on Lionel Richie's "Easy." And by the way, Jones, what's the deal with the hip-hop hand gestures? You're whiter than Ben Mulroney's teeth. Please stop with all the Donnie Wahlberg shit. Thank you.

Predictably, Sass Jordan, the show's professional fluffer, loved Jones' performance, saying, "You kick butt every time."

Luckily, fellow judge Zack Werner told it like it was: "I think your pipes appeal to little girls and not to people who understand real singing."

Meanwhile, the lovably self-deprecating Mulroney commented on Jones' song choice rather than his skill, joking that "Easy" was his nickname in university, back when he used to bang drunk girls by telling them that his dad invented the GST.

The judges had slightly more serious comments reserved for Keith Macpherson's song choice.

"When I heard you were going to do this song [Squeeze's 'Tempted'), I knew you would nail it," said Jake Gold. "You have such great instincts of what to do for your voice."

Chad Doucette also fared well with the judges, veering away from the cheesy joke songs and sticking with his strong point: overly earnest tonsil-shaking vagina rock like the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris."

"That was wicked sweet," Werner enthused.

Sheldon Elter took the stage next, prowling through The Black Crowes' "Hard To Handle" with the kind of old-school sexual energy that might have an older audience throwing their Depends on stage. As always, Elter was immensely likeable. Plus, his stage movements were the most natural they've ever been. Afterwards, Jordan remarked, "I'm a huge fan of Sheldon Elter."

Indeed, we're all huge fans of Elter. But that doesn't mean that he has what it takes to win this fucker. Werner, as always, hit the nail on the head, noting that the charismatic performer deserves a career in media, but just doesn't have the pipes to be a professional singer. Oh well, maybe he can get a gig as a weatherman.

Like Elter, Tyler Lewis gave a surprisingly strong performance, moving away from his typically cringe-worthy WWEmoting and delivering a solid good old boy's take on Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock And Roll."

While everyone complimented Lewis on his strong performance, Werner said, "I thought, coming in here, you were going to be this cool guy, but instead you're this Bob and Doug kind of guy. You need a toque and a stubby and a plaid shirt."

Last up was underdog Rob James, who launched into Gavin McGraw's "Chariot." While James seemed more at ease than ever before, he was a little off vocally. Nevertheless, the judges uniformly complimented the performer.

"I know how hard this has been for you in particular," Werner noted. "That was you using everything you have as a strength."

Gold, meanwhile, said: "It was the first time we've seen the real Rob James personality, the guy that we knew was inside. You didn't have any of that nervousness."

And with that, Canada picked up their phones to vote. Tune in Wednesday to hear the results.