American Idol Season 9 Orlando

Ryan looked super cute at the top of the show as he said “this is Orlando and this is American Idol”, standing in front of 10,000 contestants. Ryan did a cheesy Disney ‘dreams come true’ voiceover before saying that he, Simon and Randy were 235 miles away in Miami … and needing a little TLC after their quiet night in. Or something like that. While the boys were recovering, Kara and guest judge Kristin Chenoweth were becoming BFFs.

Theo Glinton

Glittery Theo had dressed up for the occasion with what looked like a cape and was covered in glitter and sequins. Ryan asked if he’d ever thought of being a super-hero … maybe not, but confident Theo knew he was beautiful and all that anyone could be. In the audition, Theo belted out his song but the judges rejected him for being too over-the-top. After struggling to negotiate the exit, a subdued Theo told his friends, who were waiting outside with Ryan, that he hadn’t made it. Ryan looked as though he’d dealt with a few sequins before as he helped Theo remove the glitz from his face, then cut to a break saying that he needed to go wash the glitter off his hands.

Still on the Disney theme, Ryan’s voiceover talked about the morning being far from a fairy tale as the contestants were beginning to grate on Simon and the girls continued to bond, which … to Ryan’s delight … annoyed the <beep> out of Simon.

Seth Rollins

Next up is Seth and his back-story involves his kid, who was at the audition and wanted to follow him into the judging room. It looked as though Ryan was going to get the kid until mom stepped in. Seth’s singing sounds effortless and all judges sent him through, though Randy wanted more energy and Simon wanted excitement and animation.

Ryan said that millions of people flock to Orlando to reach for the stars, and said the contestants were aiming just as high … and high is one word to describe the contestant standing next to Ryan in the VT. I thought this was American Idol, not America’s Next Basketball Player.

Jermaine Purifoy

Jermaine auditioned in season seven but didn’t make it through. Randy told him not to be scared, and he had no reason to be as he has a beautiful voice. He’s also the prettiest contestant we’ve seen so far! The judges liked him. Kara found it believable and Simon thought it was a good choice of song and the chicks would like him.

At 7pm Ryan crossed an empty holding room to talk to the last contestant of the day.

Shelby Dressell

Shelby told Ryan about a nerve problem she’d been born with that had made it difficult to use one side of her face and Ryan told her she appeared to function fine. It didn’t seem to affect her singing as she has a decent voice. Half way through the song she got flustered and swore, which really broke the ice in the audition room! The judges saw something in her and put her through, though Simon’s ‘yes’ was with a small ‘y’. Ryan said 18 others went through on day one and we saw a clip of various contestants and him with an armful of Shelby.

The BFFs were no more on day two as Kristin had to head back to New York leaving Kara with Simon and Randy for company.

Jay Stone

Jay did a bit of beat-boxing that didn’t sell him as a singer, but had a decent voice when Randy asked him to sing (while Kara and Randy did the percussion for him). Simon had a bit of percussion of his own with a raspberry and a ‘no’ but Kara put Jay through and Ryan played charades with Jay’s friends, acting out the judges’ reactions, while Randy came to his decision. As Jay came out with his golden ticket, someone picked Ryan right up into the air! So cute… and haven’t we all wanted to do that to Ryan at some time or another? Though in that situation, I might be tempted to throw him over my shoulder and make a run for it. Finders keepers!

While I pondered how heavy Ryan is and how far I could run before security caught up with me, Janell Wheeler, Brittany Starr James, Kasi Bedford all went through.

Cornelius Edwards

Cornelius had learned some serious moves from his stripper friends, but split a little more than he intended when he did the splits. Simon had to say yes after the ‘sacrifice’ and Kara and Randy followed suit, Randy telling him to wear a towel out. Cornelius left the room brandishing his golden ticket, and, presumably to avoid being picked up like last time, Ryan grabbed the only person smaller than him … a little kid who gave the best WTF face I’ve seen in a long time as Ryan hauled him into the air.

Bernadette and Amanda Desimone

Did I imagine Ryan getting a kiss on the cheek from the sisters, because it didn’t happen in the UK cut. The judges were a little on the fence, but Kara and Randy said yes, so they are both through to the next round.

Jarrod Norrell

Jarrod had a really indistinct speaking voice and sounded like a drunk gargling razor blades when he sang. Kara thought he sounded like a lawnmower and Jarrod wasn’t happy at all about that. He started singing again and wouldn’t stop when the judges tried to get him to shut up or when security tried to escort him from the room. Ryan said security had no choice but to intervene as we saw him cuffed and taken outside … then Simon deadpanned ‘yes or no?’

Matthew Lawrence

Ryan talked about the different reasons contestants have for auditioning, telling us that the last contestant was there for redemption. Matthew wanted a little adventure when he was 15, so robbed a bank with a BB gun. I hated his singing. He reminded me of Michael Sarver, but the judges loved him and put him through with Kara calling him for the top 12.

At the end of the programme, Ryan said that a total of 31 contestants made it through, and next week we get to see the LA auditions. On his radio show today, Ryan said that Kara didn’t get on quite so well with Katy Perry so I can’t wait to see the claws come out.

I thought there were quite a few good contestants through in Orlando and liked Kasi Bedford, Seth Rollins and Jermaine Purifoy in particular.