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American Idol winner Taylor Hicks has some words of advice for this season's Canadian Idol wannabes -- get lots of sleep.
"Anytime you have that down time, you need to spend it with your feet up and really conserve your energy," he says during a conference call from L.A.
"That's key because if you don't conserve your energy, it doesn't look good on camera and it affects your performance."
Thanks in part to Hicks, who is 29 years old, Canadian Idol is taking a page out of the American Idol handbook.
The CTV series has raised the age for contestants to 28 and is planning a battle of the sexes.
Judge Jake Gold says since the U.S. series made those changes two seasons ago, it has had some of the best contestants in its history including Hicks, finalist Chris Daughtry and last year's runner-up Bo Bice.
"They raised the age limit and went to that format and it worked for them. This is our fourth season so we thought this would be a good time to try it."
Gold says he expects the same results here at home.
"From our Top 22, if the best 10 get through -- the best five women and best five guys -- we will have the best Top 10 you have ever seen on television. Period."
In the past, when Canadian Idol fans choose the Top 10 from the best 32, the contestants had to sing only once.
This season, Gold says, the finalists will be required to sing live three weeks in a row before the Top 10 is announced.
"I definitely think the cream will rise to the top. And I'm sure we'll have people from Alberta there -- we always do," he says.
While the talent on Idol has improved, Gold says this season's tour also saw some of the worst singers in the country.
"Last year we had kind of a drought of bad singers and we thought many Canadians don't want to be embarrassed on TV. Maybe they are just that kind of people.
"But this year, I'll tell ya, we've got stuff you have never seen on Canadian Idol before."
One of the most memorable contestants, says Gold, was a girl who "let one go" while auditioning in front of the judges.
"We had a girl fart. She just started to sing and we heard what sounded like the floor creaking and instead of just saying the floor creaked, she said, 'Oh my God, I just farted.'
"We lost it. We were falling out of our seats crying -- we were laughing so hard."
The fourth season of Canadian Idol premieres tonight on CTV at 9 p.m.