Idols South Africa V was the fifth season of South African reality interactive talent show based on the British talent show Pop Idol. It premiered on Sunday, 1 February 2009, with a summer vibe and new rules. Instead of the search happening in autumn–winter as with previous seasons, the auditions began in mid-December and run through the holiday season.

Colin Moss was unable to be the host of Season 5 due to movie commitments and the role open for auditions. Among those who auditioned were Top Billing presenter Janez Vermeiren, SABC 3 continuity presenter and radio DJ Liezl van der Westhuizen, television presenter and DJ Pabi Moloi – most recently seen in SABC 1s The Amazing Date —and Sami Sabiti, co-host of Idols 1. M-Net made an official announcement that Liezl van der Westhuizen will be the new host. She was presented to viewers in the first episode of Season 5 when Colin was run over by a car in a scene and she took the reins from him as the new host.

Final voting disaster

On the official finale Sasha Lee Davids was announced the winner, with 52.77% of the votes. Four days later, Idols announced that there had been problems with the voteline, and some of the votes that were sent before the cut-off time were not counted. The investigation hit the front page of the Times on 8 May 2009 and later in the day it was announced on www.mnet.co.za/idols/ that the recount had showed that Jason Hartman had received 200000 more votes than Sasha Lee Davids(of 2.3 million total votes in the finale (recount)). After discussion between M-Net and FremantleMedia (the format owners), Jason Hartman and Sasha Lee Davids were declared winners. They both received identical full prizes. This was the first time a win was shared on an Idol show. Neither Hartman nor Davids ever appeared in the bottom 3 or 2 prior to the final.

Finals

Finalists

(ages stated at time of contest)

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Live Show Details

Heat 1 – Top 14 (22 February 2009)

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Heat 2 – Top 12 (1 March 2009)

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Live Show 1 (8 March 2009)

Theme: Greatest Hits

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Live Show 2 (15 March 2009)

Theme: Divas and Crooners

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Live Show 3 (22 March 2009)

Theme: New Millennium

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Live Show 4 (29 March 2009)

Theme: Best of South Africa

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Live Show 5 (5 April 2009)

Theme: Rock Classics

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Live Show 6 (12 April 2009)

Theme: DJ’s Choice

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Live Show 7 (19 April 2009)

Theme: Unplugged

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Live Show 8: Semi-final (26 April 2009)

Theme: Choices

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Live final (3 May 2009)

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