American Idol Season 9 Hollywood Week Round 2

Ryan opened the show on a cheerful note: it’s Hell Week and the worst is yet to come! This show covers group day and Ryan pointed out that for the 96 contestants who have made it this far, a bad decision can ruin everything. Some of the early favourites could crash and burn if they make a bad decision now.

We watched groups form, fall apart, reform, argue, bitch, rehearse … and there were the usual power struggles, tears and tantrums — and even a bit of espionage. Ooooh, the drama! Ryan made it all sound very exciting.

Ryan said that, unusually for Group Day, everyone seemed quite calm the morning after … then everything started to fall apart and Ryan noted that a few of them are missing something quite important: the lyrics. That’s bad. Simon Cowell’s bark may be worse than his bite, but he isn’t very forgiving of forgotten lyrics.

Just when we thought this was going to be an episode without sight of Ryan, he appeared on screen. And he was looking good, so it was worth the wait! From this point, several group auditions were shown interwoven with tales of imminent childbirth (fortunately a wife back home, not a contestant) and group squabbles.

Faith: Charity Vance, Ashley Rodriguez and Michelle Delamor all went through and Ryan said group day is off to a good start. It also looked as though group day isn’t going to be brutal, because I didn’t think all three were so good.

Team Awesome: Michael Lynche, Seth Rollins, Tim Urban, Michael Castro all sang, and Ryan told us we’d find out who makes it through …. after the break! I actually laughed out loud. I’ve missed him saying that! Michael Lynche and Tim Urban made it.

Neopolitan: Liz Rooney, Thaddeus Johnson, Jessica Cunningham. Ryan said things seemed to be going well for Neopolitan, but Destiny’s Wild were not happy because they believed Neopolitan had copied their ideas. All three made it through.

Destiny’s Wild: Todrick Hall, Theri, Jareb Liewer, Siobhan Magnus. Ellen told them it was weird, comparing it to Cirque du Soleil, but they all made it through … and continued complaining about Neopolitan.

Ryan fanned the copycat flames a little, saying that Destiny’s Wild have sparked another trend … groups making it through. It didn’t last long though, as contestants forgot the words and weren’t quick enough to make up new ones to cover it.

The Mighty Rangers: Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose, Mark Labriola, Kimberly Kerbow, Danny Jones weren’t so mighty after all as only Tori and Maddie made it through. Mark asked for another chance, but was shut down by Simon who told him isn’t cool to beg. Ryan gave a visibly upset Mark a hug, then said the next group is had nothing but trouble.

Phoenix: Ben Honeycutt, Jeff Goldford, Moorea Masa, Jermaine Sellers, Kat Nestel. You know it’s not going to go well when a vocal coach tells them they don’t know what they’re doing. Kat jumped before she was pushed, but Simon wasn’t taking any excuses for their bad performance. Jeff and Jermaine made it through.

Next came the montage Ryan had talked about on his radio show … contestants who’d picked Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani but couldn’t remember the lyrics. I have to admit, I had a go at this after Ryan told us what the lyrics should be … it’s easy! (nothing a bit of auto-tune couldn’t fix …)

Big Dreams: Matt Lawrence and Amanda Shecktman might have called themselves Big Dreams, but it was more of a big nightmare. Simon called it horrific, as bad as he’s ever heard in his life. That was a conclusive no.

Ryan pointed out a few more contestants familiar from the audition shows who were catching the next flight home: Leah Lorenti, Carmen Turner, Kimberly Carver and Dave Pitman.

Middle C: Jenell Wheeler, Jermaine Purifory, Casey James all went through.

3 men and a baby: Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, JB Ahfua [plus the third man] all made it through too.

The Dreamers: Mary Powers, Hope Johnson, Margo May, Alex Lambert, Erin Hundley. Ryan wondered if these five big personalities (that’s one way of describing it) could pull it off on stage. The answer was no, as the judges stopped the pain early, but Mary, Hope and Alex still made it through.

Ryan said 71 of the 96 made it through group day and ran quickly through some of the other singers who’ve made it to the final day in Hollywood.