East or West? Blond or brunette? Piano or guitar? When it comes to choosing this year's Canadian Idol, it's all a matter of personal preferences.

Whether Mitch MacDonald — the dark-haired, strumming pride of Nova Scotia — or Theo Tams — Lethbridge, Alta.'s fair-coifed, ivory tickler — will walk away with the coveted CTV karaoke crown on Wednesday night is beyond me. Seriously, it hurts to even attempt predicting how the votes are going to fall after the fellas each pulled off three near-flawless numbers (in Idol land, anyway) on Monday's final performance episode.

Judge Jake Gold seemed to be thinking the same thing towards the end of the show: "Both of you are so different and unique that it's really hard to say who's better. It's really a matter of tastes."

Or, as many Canucks are saying, it's a battle of East versus West. Call it what you will, but I'm still not going to pick side. Being a Winnipegger, that just seems like the natural thing to do.

While Tams was certainly a frontrunner at one point, MacDonald has become quite a fan — and judge — favourite. The panel had nothing but praise for his first track on Monday, an emotive rendition of Gordie Sampson's Paris; and kept the compliments going through to his third tune, If by 1970s band Bread — after which Sass Jordan proceeded to lay on the cheese.

"I think there's a reason why pitch rhymes with Mitch."

Oh boy.

Tams' personal pick, Jann Arden's Good Mother, was rather random, but it worked. I suppose. And his take on Foreigner's I Want to Know What Love Is (sadly, the judges' choice) was stellar simply because he sang it well when it could have been a hot mess.

The only real disses came courtesy of Gold, who wasn't thrilled with either of the winner's singles that each finalist performed between their own and the judges' selections — which were bolstered with support from neo-soul man John Legend and Idol alum Jacob Hoggard's band Hedley. Whoever wins will have to record said track immediately, so their new managers can ensure it gets mucho airplay ASAP.

Tams' Sing has the potential to be annoyingly infectious, while MacDonald's Where We Begin doesn't really complement his unique tone.

"For me, unfortunately, you didn't (sell) with that one," Gold told the Port Hood native. This, of course, doesn't mean everyone to my right won't vote for him. Everyone to my left is likely punching in Tams' numbers — or perhaps they're not. Fortunately, the mystery will soon be solved.

Wednesday night, one of them will be the proud new wearer of the Idol crown, while the other will return to his hometown empty-handed (and, as in some cases, end up being more popular). The suspense would normally be killing me by now, but this season hasn't done much to tingle my senses. Sorry.

On Tuesday’s two-hour finale, Mariah Carey will take the show to all new octaves. Other lucky recipients of coveted CTV facetime include Legend, Hedley, mentor Jully Black, last year's winner Brian Melo, the rest of this year's Top 10, your dog, my dog, and the dog next door. Is anyone else feeling bloated?