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The Hollywood Rounds begin tonight.   It’s a short round this year.   Tonight will feature group and individual auditions.   Tomorrow night  is the “Green Mile” episode–40 contestants will be cut down  to the Top 24.   There is a spoiler list put together by the kids at Idol Forums.  Check it out here.   I posted a  rumored blow-by-blow of Hollywood week back in December.  We’ll find out soon enough (tomorrow!)  if the kids are alright…

Rumor has it that a couple of contestants may have been disqualified.  Tommy Daniels, who was revealed by TMZ  to have a record, was supposedly  disqualified for releasing information to the media.   According to the spoilers, another potential Top 40/24 contestant may have been disqualified and/or quit.   And, there is a pervasive rumor around the net that Sean Michel was eliminated  because he refused to cut his hair.

My fellow blogger, Dave McGurgan from Phillyburbs.com  says that “an Idol insider high up in the food chain, who goes by the name AJ, contacted phillyBurbs.com last week, claiming that the next American Idol has already been chosen: Brandon Rogers.”   Hmmm.

More from Nigel Lythgoe’s recent teleconference:

• Nigel would like to extend the upper age limit next year from 28 to 30. He raises this issue every year. Raising the age limit Season 4  from 24 to 28  resulted in more seasoned, therefore more entertaining contestants.  While the  producers are at it, they should also raise the bottom limit from 16  to 18.  Just think how awesome Paris Bennett would have been with a few more years experience under her belt.
• According to Nigel, “There is one young lady in Hollywood who I would have said would have been in the top five this year [but] got cut purely and simply because she couldn’t remember her lyrics in a group…It’s sad, but that’s what a competition is. You’ve got to work every single day.”   Hmmm, I heard about people making it through to the Top 40/44 who forgot lyrics or completely lost their voices during the Hollywood Rounds…

Here’s more on some of your Season 6 contestants:

A UK reader, Telespy  uploaded this audition  to You Tube.  Vanessa Herrick’s audition was featured after Gina Glockson in the UK version of the “Best Of The Rest” episode.   According to Telespy, “she got a golden ticket, and some interesting comments from Simon.”

Remember Wandera Hitchye who was told during the Memphis Auditions  by Simon that “there are so many singers like you trying to get deals right now,” before all three judges rejected her?   Wandera claims that  she  never auditioned in front of the judges.   That, in the final edit, it was only made to look that way:

The contestant stated that she didn’t perform in front of Simon, Paula or Randy which everyone saw on their television screen. The tape was instead edited to make it look like she did according to the contestant. In fact, Hitchye actually performed in front of the producer of the show Nigel Lythgoe who told her that he loved her singing, but didn’t like her performance.

There were reports of this sort of “creative editing”  going on last year  too.   Speaking of which, Eonline.com has  more  on the Akron Watson Hollywood dis-invitation flapdoodle.  Golden ticket holders are dis-invited every year  in what are called pre-Hollywood phone cuts.   In between the auditions and the Hollywood rounds, if background checks run on the contestants turn up  something unfavorable that contestant is cut–sometimes just a few days before the round starts.

There are questions about what criteria is  used to determine whether a contestant is cut or not.  Ãƒâ€š  A contestant who  isn’t upfront about their past will probably get cut later  on if  the problem pops up in a routine check.   However, Akron claims that the producers knew about  the drug bust  that  could be the reason for his dismissal.   Also, there are other contestants, Bo Bice for instance, who were able to compete  despite a past drug bust.   In fact, as you will see this week, there is a contestant who is rumored to go very far who actually did time in prison, so…

It’s all very mysterious, isn’t it?

Lastly, learn more about contestants Chris Richardson  and JL Cotter  from these articles in their home town papers.   Both are rumored to have done very well in Hollywood…