TORONTO -- Try for lots of sleep. That's as philosophical as it gets when chatting with the winners of the American Idol series. "Get a lot of sleep," said a tired-looking Ruben Studdard, who has become a bona fide celebrity since winning the title of the Idol a couple of weeks ago. "Whenever we get a chance for down time, we sleep."

Studdard and runner-up Clay Aiken were in Toronto yesterday to perform with the 146 finalists who made it to next round of the Canadian Idol competition.

CTV flew in the newly christened star power to help promote the station's fall TV launch at the Princess of Wales Theatre and the highly anticipated Canadian series that begins airing next Monday.

The two new singing stars had a theatre filled with invited guests -- mostly CTV advertisers -- stomping, clapping and offering the occasional shout of "Rooo-ben!" as they led the Canadian contenders in a group effort of the disco classic Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now.

"They have an amazing amount of work to do, an amazing journey ahead of them," Aiken said. "An amazing, amazing bunch of hard work."

Ivan Fecan, president and CEO of Bell Globemedia, parent company of CTV, concluded the network's fall unveiling by first introducing Aiken, who opened with his new single This Is the Night, followed by Studdard performing Flying Without Wings.

Despite the last-minute plan to fly to Toronto -- the duo admitted to being spooked by SARS -- Aiken said he's never felt owned by the Idol franchise, which has branches in half a dozen other countries, including Norway and France.

"I would say be ready to do some stuff you don't want to do. Be ready to have some of your time taken away from you," said 24-year-old Aiken.