Australian Idol Contestant, Toby Moulton, Drops Out of Competition

That makes me mad. Someone just as talented or if not better could have gotten his spot. He should have dropped out in the auditions. Selfish prick.

Wow. Very cool. That speech of his made me teary. I loved that bit about he now knows who he is, he’s a teacher. It’s nice that idol both helped him grow in confidence and taught him so much about himself. That’s a wonderful bit of experience and knowledge to take through life.

The change from being a “nobody” to tabloid and internet bait would make a lot of people want to go back to a life of obscurity. I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often.

Can you imagine an American Idol contestant making it all the way to the Top 5 and then suddenly dropping out?

I can totally understand it!

That ma

kes me mad. Someone just as talented or if not better could have gotten his spot. He should have dropped out in the auditions. Selfish prick.

I don’t blame him. Some people spend their entire life searching for the right profession. He might like singing but just found out that it’s not the right thing to do. Better now than never, I think.

Well he gave the guy that would be eliminated another shot at winning. I feel for him and I love his speech. But dang he is hawt! LOL….

i have been following Australian Idol , and i think Australian Idol is way better than X factor . Toby is one of my favorites this year. Sad that he dropped out the competition. James Johnson should thank him.

In Toby’s defense you never know at what point you realize that what you thought of as your dream isn’t really what makes you fulfilled or happy. Yes it’s sad that he made it so far and then “walked off the stage” but he legitimately outpaced all those behind him, so he isn’t being a “selfish” bastard. He just gave another bloke a chance to realize his dream that would have been sent home if Toby stayed.

Pretty crazy stuff. Can you imagine an American Idol contestant making it all the way to the Top 5 and then suddenly dropping out?

That would make for some great TV.

But good for Toby for being honest. I think it happens to everyone, you make a choice and at some point you realize that’s not what you want.

Pretty crazy stuff. Can you imagine an American Idol contestant making it all the way to the Top 5 and then suddenly dropping out?

Jason came close- his heart wasn’t in it and IMO he was relieved to be eliminated at 4th.

Good point. I think Jason wanted out at Top 6. And when he sang Cats, it was just an utter embarrassment (Top 5). Gah. It would have been better, IMO, if he had gracefully bowed out. Top 4 was even worse (srsly, forgetting the lyrics to Mr. Tambourine Man?). Brooke and Carly should have stayed on. JMHO.

I hope Nathan wins, but he was bottom 2 this past week. Looks like Stan has the best chance of winning at this point.

Why is Hayley still there? (I know all of this from my Aussie Twitter pal Nessa, who sends me links, etc.)

Good Charlotte? Cool. AI should get a current band like Good Charlotte as a mentor!!!

You know what? Good for him. I’d bet it really be hard to get up and do that at such a late stage in the competition.

Anyone have a handle on what the general reaction is like over in Australia? Overwhelmingly negative? Understanding? Heavily mixed?

I didn’t follow it this year. But it’s great that he was able to recognize (and accept) that this wasn’t for him. You can only please others for so long.

His students are lucky to have someone as articulate and thoughtful as Toby to teach them.

I actually liked Jason’s version of Memory..wouldn’t have been that bad live if he wasn’t sick. The recorded version is beauitful

Pretty crazy stuff. Can you imagine an American Idol contestant making it all the way to the Top 5 and then suddenly dropping out?

Yes, especially if they keep loading their week with crap and don’t let them prepare for their vote-earning performances.

Wow – teared up. That took strength to come to terms with what he truly felt and to know it was right for him to leave the competition.

Yes, Jason’s studio version of Memory is lovely.

Didn’t someone drop out of AI in either Season One or Two after she made the Top 12? I seem to remember some girl singer quitting the competition.

And good for this guy for realizing that this isn’t the life he wants for himself.

Didn’t someone drop out of AI in either Season One or Two after she made the Top 12? I seem to remember some girl singer quitting the competition.

As far as drop outs, I remember Corey Clark was disqualified after the top 10 performance during the 2nd season and Mario Vazquez dropped out before the top 12 in the 4th season.

Didn’t someone drop out of AI in either Season One or Two after she made the Top 12? I seem to remember some girl singer quitting the competition.

Umm… no female drop outs that I can remember off the top of my head. I know that in Season 2 Corey Clark was disqualified, and in Season 4 Mario Vazquez dropped out for ambiguous personal reasons. Maybe there was some pre Semi-final action that I can’t remember?

Yeah some girl did quit because she wanted to be home with her kids or something. I can’t remember Girlygirl, lol. But yeah Nikko Smith got the spot because Mario dropped out in Season 4. Now you have me thinking but I think it was in Hollywood that this girl dropped out.

Ok, I don’t have permission to edit my comment (what?), but I think you might actually be thinking about the Frenchie Davis disqualification, which totally went over my head when I posted that first comment. If there were others, I’m pretty certain I’m not going to remember them, especially from the first two seasons (which are retrospective for me).

Yeah and Joanna Pacitti was disqualified too and they brought back Felicia Barton but I think there is still someone else. I am sure many have been disqualified in the past for something. I heard that Jamar Rogers has quit Season 9 according to VFTW. This is a very interesting subject but no has quit making as far as the top 5 or possibly the top 4. I would think the person would want it if they made it that far. I understand where the Australian Idol contestant was going at. Good luck to him and his teaching career. Being in the limelight is really hard if you aren’t use to it, look what happened to Susan Boyle. I am glad she is coping with it now.

Well I thought that was really touching, and totally understandable. He went for something he one of his passions, but in doing so he realized that it wasn’t what he wanted ultimately to do. At least he gave it a shot and did fairly well, he would have been top 4 after this week. But hell yes! give a standing O for wanting to be a teacher instead. Teachers deserve tons of standing Os, in my biased opinion.

Best of luck to this guy in his life. He seems really cool and nice.

On another note, what the heck was with all the tiny contestants? It was like a scene from Munchkin Land with them. What? do they represent the Goth Lollipop Gang?

That was very touching. I think it was an honorable thing to do, and his parents looked very proud. He has a beautiful voice, perhaps he will find another way to share it that is more comfortable for him. Good luck to him.

lol…how did I forget about Joanna.

Nick Pedro left season 5 in Hollywood, came back in season 6 and made the top 24.

Maybe I’m thinking of the girl who got really sick and then dropped out. It was like the first or second season of Idol. She was engaged to some guy, she was a really pretty African-American girl from…Florida, I think? She made it into the finals but then got really sick and ended up dropping out. But I think she also decided she didn’t want to be in the competition anymore, either.

I remember there have been people who have quit during Hollywood week for different reasons…

Can you imagine an American Idol contestant making it all the way to the Top 5 and then suddenly dropping out?

Sure. Imagine if you were a guy who signed up for a singing contest and then, halfway thru, somebody posted pictures of you kissing a boyfriend? And, then all the sudden, every tabloid, supermarket, and news magazine was printing stories? And, cable news shows devoting segments to your sex life? And churches attacking you?

It would take a lot of guts to stay in the competition knowing that history has shown that being out of the closet is a career killer.

I can understand somebody saying, “this isn’t what I signed up for.”

I love Australian Idol and this kind of broke my heart but at the same time I get it’ ¦ I don’t see how any of them leave one of these competitions with an ounce of sanity left. By the way ‘“ watch Nathan Brake, he is young and still raw but the kid is good. Kind of like a mini-Adam.

i think it’s refreshing to have someone basically turn down fame and fortune and really follow a passion that yields neither.

and i went to the old youtubes to check out some of his performances. beautiful voice, so it is definitely a shame.

a refreshing shame!

He seems to be a very good guy. He said at the end of the video, he always tought of singing and performing but never had the courage to do so. Personnally i think he cant’ handle the stress attached to this goal and because it makes him uneasy, he falls back on something he likes and makes him feel better, teaching. Nothing’s wrong with this but arghh! it pains me to see barriers preventing someone to achieve his realistic dreams. Good though that he didn’t go any further and let the chance to the other guy who was going to be eliminated

suebrody:

I hope Nathan wins, but he was bottom 2 this past week. Looks like Stan has the best chance of winning at this point.

Why is Hayley still there? (I know all of this from my Aussie Twitter pal Nessa, who sends me links, etc.)

Decent and gutsy of the guy to drop out now. Would have been easy enough to just phone it in until he got voted off. This way someone else gets a second chance.

If I was an Aussie I’d definitely be a stan of Stan! I watched a few of his performances after someone linked to the other guy who sang Mad World a few weeks ago. Other guy was okay, but Stan’s got soul. His Ordinary People audition – amazing. (just checked. Mad World guy is Nathan. I still stan Stan though!)

What a breath of fresh air that was – Toby’s eloquent speech and the incredible strength of character shown in making the decision to pass up all the fame and glory that goes along with being one of the top contestants on this widely acclaimed show in order to return to his true love, teaching.

I was so struck by the awesome sight of the whole audience giving him a standing ovation, when he said he was returning to teaching. How beautiful is that? When I think of how seldom it is that teachers get any recognition outside of their immediate circle of influence and compare that with the kind of crazy accolades famous recording artists and actors receive, well, this was mind-blowing.

Thanks, MJ for posting this here.

Almost stood up myself watching on Youtube. And is it me? Is he super handsome or what?

This need not be the end of Toby’s musical career. I can imagine him in a role very similar to the teacher in the FOX TV series — GLEE.

Well being an Aussie, I saw this live when it happened & whilst it was very sad , I can totally understand where he was coming from!! The week before they sent them back home & he went to the school where he taught & you could visibly see him being distressed when he left!!
I feel he came into the Idol competition as he wanted to test himself as it was his last chance- [ He is now 30!!] He now knows he can sing in public & very well but his true passion is teaching !! The other contestants were visibly shaken & all their first performances I feel were affected by this announcement as he was the “Daddy” of the comp!! [ The Top 4 range from 17- 19 - first time this has happened on Oz idol!!]Their 2nd performances were much better.

Stan has the best voice & Hayley is the best perfomer which is why she is still there- along with being the only girl!! I also like the richness of James voice -its a bit like Kris’s !!

As I am someone who teaches myself – I know how Toby feels!!

If he wrote this farewell speech himself, there are going to be thousands of lucky school children in Australia who will soon have the opportunity to be taught by someone born to teach.

I salute his decision and I wish him well. I have never heard of him before. Thanks for sharing this video here with us, MJ. Watching him thank his friends, fans and family and listening to his voice gave me shivers.

This guy makes me want to move to Australia (ok…makes me want to move there even MORE than before)

OMG. Chiiiiiiills when he said “I am a teacher.” It is the noblest profession and to see someone who is on the brink of stardom choose it over fame is a truly refreshing.