29 October 2006
Fear wasn't the factor, it was the singer's weight, reports Nicola Boyes.
New Zealand Idol finalist Matt Saunoa faced a weighty problem yesterday and it was not the burden of performing at tonight's Idol grand final.
Levin's home-town hero was told by staff at Auckland's Sky Jump he was too heavy for their equipment.
The 21-year-old initially said he felt a bit "shamed" after being told he weighed too much for the leap but, by the time he got to the top of the Sky Tower with fellow finalist Indira Moala, he was happy to have missed out.
Staff at Sky Jump said the equipment had already been increased to accommodate jumpers' increasing size - from a 120kg capacity to 125kg.
Complete with jump suit and harness, Matt weighed in at 132kg.
The Idol finalists were supposed to jump from the Sky Tower as a publicity stunt ahead of tonight's Idol 2006 final show.
Wearing a Sky Jump suit, which he could not zip up, Matt looked out the window at the 192m fall and joked he had no plans of getting down to jumping weight.
Once a person leaps from the jumping platform, their descent, suspended on metal ropes, is controlled by a fan which provides resistance. Two motorcycle disk brakes can stop jumpers in mid-air, half way down, to take in the view.
"You've got to obey those safety measures when it comes to cords snapping and things," he said.
Indira, who in the past few days has knocked Matt out of the Centrebet favourite slot, declared herself "the winner by default" after successfully making the leap.
However, if weight is any indication of success Matt could take heart from last year's New Zealand Idol winner Rosita Vai. Sir Howard Morrison told her she was too fat to win, but later apologised
Matt, Rosita man why is everyone going on about peoples weight? do we all have to be Kate Moss Supermodles or something. Howard Morrison/Rosita saga all over again.
sympathy vote for Matt
Actually Sir Howard said she was too fat to be a star.
And based on the evidence one would have to begrudgingly agree.
Awww, what a big bummer!!!
That sucks. *doesn't like Matt but still.. he's a human and that's gotta be kinda upsetting*
Sources tell me that Matt and Indira were invited by SkyCity to do the jump (I got a press release by SkyCity on Friday about it) and it wasn't planned to be a part of the show ever.
Comeupance.
In previous years the producers have actually bothered to ASK the question as to what the max weight is, they obviously didn't bother this year and ended up embarrassing poor Matt. Shame on them.
Doh, wonder how they'll show that on TV??
LMAO.