Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney works double time reporting for CTV's eTalk Daily program, which he also co-hosts.  However, the hot talent wasn't enough for Mulroney, who couldn't handle a Winnipeg winter for long as he soon went for his sweater and then parka.

Troy Scott-  I think Winnipeg just got a bit more "oranger" because Ben Mulroney is here with me.  So how do you juggle this and (your other CTV program) eTalk Daily?

Ben Mulroney-  We've gotten really good at it. 

Troy-  You don't sleep anymore, do you, Ben?

Ben-  No, no.  We fit it into the schedule and it works great.  We've got a producer from eTalk that travels with us.  We share crew and production, you know, the cameraman and stuff that does double-time as well.  And whenever we go out on a shoot like we did yesterday, we went to the Royal Canadian Mint and we went to the national… um, regional arm wrestling championships…

Troy-  Oh, just the regional?

Ben-  But we met the four-time national champion - and two time world champion.

Troy-  How did you do?  Did you arm wrestle anyone?

Ben- Um, yes.  I've been lifting big blocks of gold all morning…

Troy-  Oh nice.  Well, yeah… from your wallet!

Ben-  Yeah.  From the Mint, you know.  So it was very difficult for me to… well, it was a draw.

Troy-  Let me ask you this, Ben.  You're a Canadian celebrity and you go down to the States a lot and you meet a lot of American celebrities and everything.  Is there a difference between being a Canadian celebrity and an American celebrity?

Ben-  I don't feel I am… (stuttering)… I… uh… I feel there's a certain visibility that comes with my job.  But to say it's risen to the level of celebrity I don't necessarily know…

Troy-  But you can't go out. 

Ben-  No, I can't go out without people recognizing me but that's sort of been part of my life for a long time.  So that's just a component of the job.  It's a high visibility job.  I've seen what celebrity is and everything here is much more manageable.  I think we're in the process of building a star system in Canada.  I think shows like eTalk, ET Canada and magazines like Weekly Scoop are contributing to that.  When you can put Canadian achievement on par with American and international achievement and say, "Look, what this person has done is worthy of our attention" and as soon as you're done talking about that you talk about that best that's going on in the States.  When people can put those two things in their mind… think about those two things at the exact same time there's a linkage that happens and they all of a sudden start elevating those people who are achieving in Canada.

Troy-  That's probably the question you get the most - "When are you going to sing for us, Ben?"

Ben-  I get two things - "When are you going to sing?"  and I was like, "I'm the host and I really don't sing."  And the other one is, "Are you going to make someone cry today?"  I was like, "I'm the host.  I do the opposite."  It's the other people that make them cry. 

Troy-  So being an entertainment reporter, what's next?  Are you thinking on your career?  You're not going to go all John Tesh on us, are you?  Please don't.

Ben-  Well I've got some music in my heart that I…

Troy-  You are?!?!

Ben-  No!  Oh God no.  I want to help take eTalk to the next level.  We're doing some really great things but there's so much more we can do with it. 

Troy-  Well you guys are the number one entertainment program in the country.

Ben-  And a lot of that has to do with coming first and really breaking ground.  A lot of people didn't think there was enough content to be able to do a Canadian entertainment show every day.  And then we did it.  Not only did we do that, but we promote… I think we're about 70% Canadian every single show. 

Troy-  Really?  That's great.

Ben-  See that's it, people don't know that because we find a way to make it interesting.  You know, we tell these stories of these small up and coming bands and we make it exciting and we tell the stories of Canadian TV shows and movies and producers and all those things.  And it gets people excited.  We mix it in with the Madonnas and the X-Men of the world…

Troy-  You gotta sprinkle it in.

Ben-  Yeah, you gotta sprinkle it in and there's so much more that can be done and we're just scratching the surface.  The show's not even five-years-old yet so we built a name, we built a brand, people recognize it and they want more.  So we're trying to figure out ways to branch out and do more things with it.  And on top of that I want to get into producing a few things.  I've got… hopefully by Christmas, I've got a plan to have something on air - not for myself, I just want to produce - and we'll see.  You know, if it pans out then I can add that to my resume.

Troy- OK, the Oscars must have been a lot of fun for you.

Ben- It was.

Troy-  Did Scarlett Johansson grab your breasts?  I heard she did.  (Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi groped Johansson at January's Golden Globe ceremony while interviewing celebrities for the E! cable channel)

Ben-  She wasn't there this year.

Troy-  Oh right.

Ben-  She wasn't there, she's working.  But I was right next to Isaac Mizrahi on the red carpet.  He was, I think he's the third personality in three years to host for E!.

Troy-  Is he insane?

Ben-  No, you know he's very quiet and reserved until the camera's turned on. 

Troy-  Oh, I see.

Ben-  And he's thinking… look, I wouldn't be surprised if he was nervous.  It's the biggest stage, it's the biggest red carpet and he probably got more viewers for that than he's ever had before.

Troy-   So what are you up to today?  What's the big plan for today?

Ben-  Today we're going to see the Golden Boy.

Troy- You're going to go up there with the Golden Boy?

Ben-  No, no, we actually have our own Golden Boy. 

Troy-  Oh no.

Ben-  And I might be interviewing him. 

Troy-  Very nice.

I love Canadian Idol.  I'm so jealous that they didn't stop in my city.  I would have been the first person in line.

I took (the judges') advice and I'm gonna blow them away this year.

I think that one judge is too rude and I would only audition if he wasn't there.

Hi there, you were a candidate of the canadian idols i understand i`m sorry to here that you were just been beaten every one has a chanche you had your chance and they were not satisfied about you yeah it sucks you``ll have to live with it