if the voting AI viewing public takes into account their former connections and chooses not to vote for him or her on that basis, then so be it.

otherwise, what’s the big deal?

I was kind of aghast at some of the Philly crowd who were put thru to Hollywood. The black girl with the disabled child was possibly the only one in the bunch who had an ounce of talent. There was one insipid little blond who sang in an insipid little voice and still got voted thru to Hollywood. I think that Simon was in disagreement with Paula and Randy on that one.

MJ…I just updated the blog.

“And while he didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t deny that some of the season-seven contestants had previous experience, he explained that the process of finding new, never-before-discovered talent has grown increasingly difficult, given the showà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s popularity.”

Now, THAT is the biggest lie I’ve EVER heard. I actually went to one of the audition sites (with my husband, who auditioned…he is quite good…I forced him to go), and I heard many, MANY people (including my husband) who are much better than many of the people who have been on the show and did not make it past the first round (which, as you all know by now, is NOT Randy, Paula, and Simon). So I don’t know why they say that they are having a hard time finding talent. There was a TON of it all around me at the audition.

And, doesn’t that statement contradict itself? They are having a hard time finding talent because the show is popular? What kind of sense does that make?

I really don’t like how the show has turned from a show about honest, hard-working, talented people trying to appeal to America and make it big into a ploy for Fox and washed-up singers to promote themselves to us. It’s not right that the final 2 get a combined airtime of 20 minutes in a 2 hour finale, and the winner isn’t even announced on time. If this pattern continues, you bet I won’t be watching next year.

End rant.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The truth of the matter is, there are too many people who come on to audition for us to go into all their backgrounds,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  Warwick said. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“We judge it purely on, when they walk through the door”

I see the plan. They have decided to treat us like we are stupid. That there is no way we could have cracked the super-secret that Simon/Paula/Randy don’t actually sit there and have every single person in those stadium shots audition just for them. And that the Hollywood round happens in real time. It some how magically occurs a few days after the auditions and a few days before the competition begins. WOW. I wonder how they get those little people inside my TV set and how Santa manages to be at every mall I go to.

Like they didn’t have time to figure out who the Irish girl is. It’s been TWO years since the first started chatting her up.

Even so, before the final 24 is selected, they’ve done tonnes of interviews/questionares, performed background checks and even criminal checks. We know from past lawsuit cases they even have to produce letters from people they have previously done business with to prove that they no longer are under contract with them. I wouldn’t be suprised if they don’t require proctologist reports.

Ken is so full of carp.

he explained that the process of finding new, never-before-discovered talent has grown increasingly difficult, given the show’s popularity.

That doesn’t make any sense at all. None. They can’t find new talent because they are too popular? Wouldn’t being popular mean that more people are likely to know about them and want to be on the show? It’s if they had no popularity that they would have trouble finding contestants.

Or is he saying “It’s tough to find never-before-discovered talent because we are so popular we have to spend all our time answering phone calls from agents and filling our three stooge’s audition roster full of previously-found-and-failed contestants that we have no time or audition slots left for the never-before-discovered talent”.

Look, I’m not saying that previous flops can’t be on the show, but at least try to come up with some logical excuses.

BTW I have to say I’m quite looking forward to Season 8 where Ruben, Taylor, Katharine, Diana, Justin, Bo et al will be competing since they are all currently without contracts and they all obviously know how to get through the audition rounds. Ken will probably figure out who they are after about the Final 9 and by then it will be too late. Oops, Taylor and Bo probably miss the age requirements, but the rest are in like Flynn.

However, we will not really know anything, or be able to comment upon it, until the final 24 are announced.

When that happens, there will be no secrets anymore as there are just too many sleuths who unearth everything and publish it immediately for all the read, and share, on the internet.

If Warwick, Lythgoe, etc. do not think they will get a world of criticism for ringers on this year’s show, then their heads truly are buried in the sand, right up to their butts.

We take them on the merits of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Can they sing or not?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢

Ummm, yeah sure… okay. Whatever you say Ken. Uh huh. Yep. That definitley seems to be how it works… only those that can sing.