Granting an audience ... Richard E Grant is surrounded by the Australian Idol hopefuls that he agreed to mentor. Picture: Jeff Herbert

AS elocutionist Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Richard E Grant knows the power of choice words.

So when asked to mentor the remaining contestants on Australian Idol yesterday, Grant’s choice of words on the program have proved quite telling.

Describing the talent quest as “brutal” and a fast-food approach to fame, the esteemed English actor slammed the series for making then breaking dreams.

In yet another PR blow for the show, Grant predicted a poor future for the finalists he was asked to teach the secrets of movement and projection.

“I think the hardest thing is that the finalists get all this exposure but then usually go back to working at KFC or something,” Grant told Sydney Confidential on set at the Theatre Royal yesterday.

“It’s brutal. I know that on similar shows in England we had these people became such household names but a year later no one remembers who they are.

“They get this instant fame and it can go away just as instantly as it comes,” he said.

While maintaining an “I can do it” attitude was important, Grant and his Fair Lady co-star Taryn Fiebig agreed they worried for the Idol wannabes “at the other end.”

“It’s not that they are not talented, it’s just the way things seem to go,” Fiebig said of the critical process.

She also made reference to the runner-up syndrome, which cast the winners on a road to nowhere, but helped the second place-getters like Shannon Noll and Anthony Callea.

The harsh glare of the Idol spotlight has proved a help and hinder to its graduates this year.

This week’s evictee Thanh Bui has revealed how “really really difficult” the series was on his esteem.

“There was a lot of comments – it was either touchdown or nothing much. There was no in-between for me and it was hard.”

Despite consistently strong ratings for the Channel 10 show this year, it has come under fire from many in the music industry for its “diminishing return”.

Last year’s winner Natalie Gauci was expected to release her prize – a solo album – this year,but those plans have been put off by record company, Sony.

The previous year’s Idol, Damien Leith also released a covers album this year, with his album of original tracks not charting as well as expected.