I'm rooting for David Salam,** the adorable 26 year-old French guy with the broken Hebrew who flew in from Paris to audition. He fell into his wife's arms and nearly broke into tears when he was informed, via video chez l'agence Juive en Paris, that he'd passed.
David, who works in a furniture store but lives for music, said in one of his interviews that he dreams of moving to Israel with his wife and 3 year-old son. Yet alas, a week after he arrived to stay at the home of his cousins in Ashdod, someone broke into his car and stole his laptop. One is tempted to ask if David would have left his laptop in his car in France.
But fear not! David was informed on live television, after he performed his first solo, that Bezeq is buying him a new laptop. Such is the enthusiasm of Israel's
David and another charming-and-handsome contestant, Amir Haddad, competed successfully on the Thursday night episode. But both were absent from the Friday night show because they are Sabbath observant, making them the only non-secular contestants. Interestingly, Amir and David are both French Jews of North African extraction, although Amir has lived in Israel since he was a child.
David Salam Amir Haddad
During the commercial break, a trailer for the upcoming Israeli version of Wife Swap (British version here, American version here) was broadcast. And wow, high drama of the most local kind! The first episode of the new season features a swap between a Muslim family and a Jewish family.
The Muslim woman is shown telling her Jewish husband-for-a-week that she wants to watch Al Jazeera when they settle down for an evening of television viewing. His response: "Let's not go too far." In another scene he discovers her listening to Arabic music on the radio while she washes the floor. "We only listen to Galgalatz (Army Radio) in this house," he says.
Meanwhile, the Jewish woman arrives at the home of her Muslim husband-for-a-week and remarks nervously, "Oh! There's no mezuzah on the door!" Later she is shown tucking the children into bed and telling them in Arabic, with a heavy Hebrew accent, "Bukra, bukra madrassa." (tomorrow, tomorrow is school.)
There's no way I'm going to miss that show. (damn, I'm becoming a reality TV addict. Scary).
**The videos are not Firefox compatible. (grrr)
