When Australian Idol debuted in 2003, Sam Jeacle was just a kid from Tuggeranong who loved to watch the show with his mum.
By its second season, Sam was at Holy Family Primary School in Gowrie and developing a desire to perform, despite his shyness.
"The school kind of did their own version of Idol, I was in year one or kinder, and I got up and did a performance," he said, with a laugh.
Now aged 25, Sam is on the real Australian Idol, auditioning on the show on Sunday night in front of judges Harry Connick Jnr, Meghan Trainor, Amy Shark and Kyle Sandilands.
"This is the five-year-old me screaming at the moment because it's quite honestly been something I've wanted to do since the first season," he said.
The videographer from Canberra sings a Billy Idol song on the re-booted version of the show which returned to screens this year after a 14-year hiatus.
A student at Marist College since year four, Sam developed his passion for music while at school.
"I sort of hadn't done a lot of performing post-school which was one of the drawcards for doing the show," he said.
Sam went to Sydney to audition, saying it was nerve-wracking and fun.
"Everyone was super-supportive," he said.
"As soon as I got in there and started singing the nerves kind of subsided."
The outcome is hush-hush but Sam did win the support of the judges, especially Harry, who loved his look, and Kyle who reckoned the show needed a rock star.
"They were all really nice," Sam said.
Sam says he is inspired by pop rock from the 1980s, performing covers but also writing his own material.
And performing in such a high-pressure environment as Idol in front of music industry professionals was a wonderful experience.
"Oh 100 per cent," he said. "Regardless of the outcome, just being in that environment, being able to rub shoulders with the judges, who are obviously very talented in their own fields, and just having a nice mix of people on the panel who were each able to offer advice, that was just so valuable."
And he's following in the footsteps of Canberra's Hayley Jensen who was on Idol in 2004 and has gone on to pursue a career in country music, most recently nominated for a Golden Guitar for Female Artist of the Year.
"Mum took me to see her at the Westfield in Woden in about 2007, I remember," Sam said.
"I remember in her season [of Idol] being really drawn to her as well because a Canberran was on there and it was like, 'I could probably do that one day because she's from Canberra'."
- Watch Canberra's Sam Jeacle on Australian Idol Sunday at 7pm on Prime7.
