AND IT IS GOODBYE FROM GARETH CLIFF

Gareth Cliff bids Idols South Africa farewell. PICTURE: Web

GARETH CLIFF says his "plate is pretty full at the moment" - as he announced his resignation from reality show Idols South Africa yesterday.

And after sitting behind an odd desk judging the country's singer hopefuls since 2005, where he last sat with fellow judges Randall Abrahams, Unathi Msengana and Somizi Mhlongo - Cliff will venture into financial industry. 

"Today I’m in Cape Town launching a new Investment product which will 'uberize' the stock market; Cliffcentral.com is thriving and TouchCentral.fm is turning 3 months old. I’ve also got a book coming out on the 28th of November. I think you have to decidedly make space for new things to come into your life or you’ll end up doing the same things over and over," said Cliff.  

According to Cliff, #Invest will allow anyone to invest in JSE-listed companies from as little as R100. 

"It will be managed by Anthea Gardener of Cartesian Capital and will allow our audience and community to have some skin in the game when it comes to the markets, the economy and the formerly elite share portfolio," he said. 

The 39-year-old joined the show on its third season alongside judges Randall Abrahams, Dave Thompson and Marah Louw where he was part of the crowning of then winner Karin Kotje. And in the latest episode, he and Abrahams were joined by Unathi Msengana and Somizi Mhlongo with the year kicking off in a controversial spin for Cliff when in January, M-Net announced that he had been fired from the show. This was due to comments he had made on Twitter around estate agent Penny Sparrow and had drawn criticism for commenting that: "People really don't understand free speech at all."  

But after a grueling court battle with the channel where Cliff had demanded R25-million for wrongful dismissal, he was reinstated, with M-Net ordered to pay costs.

"I don’t hold on to bad things, I certainly think January of this year could have been handled better."

"It’s been a great season despite that. I’ve enjoyed the evolution of the show, the chemistry between the judges and the good and bad singers. Arranging for the Top four Idols to meet former American Idol judge Harry Connick Jr (on his show Harry in New York) was a great way to end on a high," he said. 
Said MNet: "We are grateful for his contribution to the show over the last 11 seasons and we wish him well with his future endeavours." - article published in The Times (15/11/2016)