Ottawa clearly had its share of deluded and atrocious hopefuls earlier this year when Canadian Idol auditions rolled through the capital.

The city's tryouts have been lucky when it comes to the reality singing show: First-time winner Ryan Malcolm, from Kingston, and Gatineau's Eva Avila, who took the title last fall, both earned their gold tickets here.

But during last night's Season Five premiere, which travelled to Toronto, Calgary, St. John's, Halifax and a weekend of auditions in March at the St. Laurent Centre, it looked to be less about the good and more about the bad and ugly.

Gatineau's 26-year-old Melanie De Gagne found out the hard way just how caustic the always-crusty celebrity judge Zack Werner can be.

"It's human Ipecac," said Werner after she was done with several seconds of outrageous vocal gyrations. "It's nausea-inducing in the worst way."

Angela Parent, a 26-year-old Ottawa resident, turned the tables on all four disapproving judges -- Jake Gold dubbed her "maybe the worst audition we've seen this year" -- when she followed up a tone-deaf performance with a nonsensical rant.

"That's your intenseness. Go for it," said Parent. "I really don't care ... I'm here for me, but you know what, you've got your point, I'll respect that. I'll respect that and I'll take it."

Even though he wasn't hitting the notes, there was no call for the comment Werner tossed out before diminutive 20-year-old Gatineau resident Marc Andre Gosselin launched into a painful rendition of Ain't No Mountain High Enough.

"I'm sorry," said the smug Werner, "Smurf auditions are down the hall."

Only one local singer was shown getting the coveted gold ticket required to get to Toronto, where the massive group will be whittled down to 22 semi-finalists. But 16 from the Ottawa tryout made it, nine of whom were locals.

Rockland's Melissa Roy, 24, wowed all four of the judges -- including Farley Flex and singer Sass Jordan -- with her powerful pipes and down-home country charm.

"You won't be bored," the overjoyed Roy yelled as she left the room clutching her gold ticket. "Life with Melissa is not boring."

The Ottawa portion of the two-hour show also gave a nod to the Stanley Cup playoffs, with host Ben Mulroney dropping the puck in a faceoff between the Senators' tough guy Brian McGrattan and Spartacat.

Canadian Idol continues next Tuesday night with auditions from Vancouver, Saskatoon, London and Montreal.