American Idol Season 9 Chicago

Ryan introduced Chicago and the guest judge Shania Twain.

Katelyn Epperly

Katelyn was the first contestant we saw from the 12,000 who showed up to audition in Chicago. Shania heard something unique in her voice; Kara saw potential but would have liked something perkier and Simon thought it was as if the lights were off. Despite the criticism, she got a yes from all four judges and was through, with Ryan’s voice over saying day one is off to a good start. But was the good start continuing for Ryan?

Amy Lang

Amy has a little history with Ryan and was excited to meet him again. Ryan was a little shorter than she remembered him being in her dream … Ryan was the first celebrity Amy had an inappropriate dream about. Ryan wanted to know how the dream ended, and if her very enthusiastic “Good!” was any indication, it went well. Very well. Ryan was visibly touched (literally in the dream sequence) and mouthed “oh my god” to camera as Amy went into the room. She looked as though she could eat him alive! Bright personality and decent voice, but the judges didn’t like the audition or her ‘boob boxing’ (if she could flex ‘em individually, I might be more impressed by it!) Simon told Amy ‘they’ were not going through to Hollywood and a dejected Amy said her farewell to Ryan. Ryan pointed out in the voiceover that she didn’t get the support she wanted from the judges, but her family was there to give her a lift.

Ryan talked about day two as we watched a clip of hopefuls in the crowd and some seriously dodgy-looking family members.

Charity Vance

The next contestant seemed sweet and has a nice voice. I liked her. Randy found her voice interesting but small, Shania thought she needed to hone in on its better qualities and Simon saw something unique and thought she’d make a good recording artist. A chilled out Ryan said “let’s see what happened” before Charity bounced out with her ticket.

Ryan said all the ‘characters’ had started to come out and we saw a montage of people who definitely aren’t going any further, causing the judges’ patience to wear thin. He wondered if the next batch of contestants would cheer the judges up, but that’d be a ‘no’ as we watched another batch of unique singers. As Ryan said “that didn’t help” and the judges took a break as Ryan talked about the effects of the afternoon slump on the contestants, and with only four golden tickets given out, the earlier excitement had been replaced by tears and disappointment.

As Simon headed back from his break, he was intercepted by a contestant’s mom who was not impressed that he hadn’t put her girl through. Simon told the mom he was giving her daughter good advice, but she told him he was wrong and she used to like him but didn’t any more. You could see her smiling as a charmingly disarming Simon insisted she still liked him really.

Angela Martin

Angela’s back for a third shot at Idol after getting through to the final 50 last year. Ryan asked her about not being able to make it to one of the shows, but she had to show up in court for a traffic violation and missed out. The judges put her through again after Simon faked her out with a ‘no’ and the camera cut to Ryan asking how many times this would be before she came out and celebrated with her emotional friends and family. Ryan said they’d have him in tears, before telling us that 7 other contestants made it through on day one.

Curley Newbern

Curley sang in a silly high-pitched voice and the judges were trying not to laugh, but Simon and Randy failed. Simon didn’t know what it was and wondered if a lot of animals turned up outside the house when Curley sang at home. Curley disappeared while the judges were still making fun of him, so they didn’t get to tell him ‘no’.

Ryan said that wasn’t the start we expected. I don’t know about Ryan, but having watched a few seasons of Idol now that was pretty much what I expected! It didn’t look promising as Ryan told us the next contestant picked up right where Curley left off.

Alannah Halbert

Alannah needed a singing lesson from the judges, but still didn’t manage to hit the right notes. She told Ryan she didn’t know why they’d said no and didn’t seem to know what she was doing. Ryan mentioned Alannah not knowing what was in black and white, before becoming a silent picture star in a black and white movie with a very simple and somewhat repetitive plot: they go in, and they come out without a golden ticket. Ryan said the next contestant was hoping to add colour. I guess that’s one way of describing his performance.

Brian Krause

Ex-army man Brian sang Tiptoe Through the Tulips with a squeaky voice and a very weird expression. The judges thought it was a joke and Randy told him it was weird, but a mellow Brian just felt like relaxing in a warm bubble bath after getting rejected.

Still no golden tickets, which meant for Ryan that there was nobody jumping up and down and there were no tears of joy. That’s a good thing though, right? Tears are messy, and Ryan had a cute shirt on.

Harold Davis

Harold wanted to fight for glory but he’s an average singer at best. The judges told him ‘no’ and he left in tears. Ryan wanted tears … they’re not tears of joy, but it’s a start!

Voiceover!Ryan was still lamenting the lack of golden tickets as Chantelle Graczkowski kicked off another bunch of non-singers.

John Park

John’s a good looking boy with a pleasant voice and the judges liked him. Shania particularly liked his bottom end … and his lips, and all judges said yes. ‘Finally!’ said Ryan as John bounced out of the room waving his golden ticket and getting mobbed by his friends. Ryan wanted to know if he was surprised, then asked what he was doing to celebrate.

Golden tickets might be thin on the ground, but we were treated to yet another clip of Ryan in his cute checked shirt and as we came back from the break, Ryan was still stalking the holding room and scaring the remaining contestants into thinking that the judges weren’t in the mood for giving out tickets.

Paige Duchausse

Asthma attack survivor Paige divided the panel with Simon being a definite ‘no’, Kara seeing potential, Shania giving her another chance and the girls badgering Randy to send her through. Ryan was waiting outside with what looked like Paige’s entire extended family when she came out. Ryan told Paige he’d only seen one other golden ticket that day and wanted to know how she felt.

Justin Ray, Keith Semple and Marcus Jones were the last contestants we saw getting golden tickets, before we saw the best part of the entire show: Ryan dancing with one of the contestants. It was seriously dorky dancing, but it was totally adorable! Such a shame they didn’t show more of it.

13 contestants made it through to Hollywood, and again nobody really stood out to me. It may be that Adam Lambert has raised expectations to an impossible level and there won’t be an instant “that’s the one!” moment this year. From those we heard sing, I liked Charity Vance and John Park.