Yesterday, the top 36 semi-finalists for American Idol were revealed. This morning, the list was revised, as American Idol disqualified Joanna Pacitti. But if it makes her feel any better, she's not alone. As a little teaser for this season's American Idol coverage, let's take a trip down memory lane to see some of these American Idol contestants being remembered for something other than singing.
Delano Cagnolati - Delano was the first contestant to make the semi-finals and be DQ'd by the producers. Apparently, Delano had a problem remembering how old he is. In order to be eligible for season 1, you had to be between 19-24. Delano's age? 29. Whoops.
Frenchie Davis - Frenchie was considered a heavy favorite to win American Idol 2. Unfortunately, she was both heavy, and a favorite - of people who liked to see pictures of her modelling plus-sized model gear both in lingerie and topless. Despite a huge groundswell of support for Frenchie, she gets booted, but she still gets a big turn-out when she played the heavies in various musicals.
Corey Clark - Corey is the first person to be DQ'd while in the Top 12. According to producers, Corey never disclosed a prior arrest in October of 2002. According to Corey, he got booted because he got into backstage fights with the producers and was doing the horizontal macarena with Paula Abdul. He was arrested in 2007 with posession of a controlled substance, so I'm more likely to believe the people who haven't been altering their perception of reality.
William Hung - William is actually known for singing...if you consider what he did to 'She Bangs' actually singing. He got a petition of 100,000 people to let him back on the show during season 3 - which he did, albeit as a special. What makes this really scary is that Hung's debut album sold over 250,000 copies in the first month and has been made a millionaire on that album alone. His total albums sold puts him in the Top 20 of all albums sold for all American Idol contestants.
Mario Vazquez - Mario was deemed the favorite to win American Idol 4 and easily coasted into the Top 12...until he mysteriously withdrew from the finals before they even began. According to Vazquez, he wanted to have control over his music and not be stuck in a contract with 19 records. But in 2007, a news article came out that he was indeed stuck - in the men's bathroom, allegedly playing with his little microphone and trying to grab the microphone of Magdaleno Olmos, a former assistant production accountant with FreemantleMedia, who threw a lawsuit at both Vazquez and anyone involved with American Idol. No word on how the lawsuit went, but Vazquez's career went right down the men's room urinal, culminating with him being dropped by Arista in early 2008.
Derrell and Terrell Brittenum - In American Idol lore, there have been brothers who made the semi-finals, but on Season 5, Derrell and Terrell were threatening to be the first set to make the Final 12...until they were charged with forgery and theft after allegedly using a false identity to purchase a car. They both got booted from the show and disappeared from the spotlight for a few years. Then in 2008, they both revealed that they reauditioned for the show and qualified for the Top 24, which would be a great story of redemption...if it were true. But alas, that was also fraud, as they were too old to audition for Season 7. Whatever they are trying to sell now, it is probably more successful than their album, which hasn't made a blip on the radar.
Antonella Barba - When you're auditioning for American Idol, season 6 with your best friend, and you have a falling out with said best friend during the audition process, it's probably not a good idea to leave salacious pictures of yourself in possession of people who can upload them on the internet. But that's what happened, as pics of Antonella (which included her in a teddy and another with her in a wet t-shirt in the fountain of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.) started popping up. There were even pictures bordering on porn with women that looked like her floating around the net being attributed to her, but those weren't really her. Despite the pics, the producers let her stay on the show, which unleashed a firestorm of people who thought that the aforementioned Frenchie Davis shouldn't have gotten booted and even cried out racism. However, at the end of the day, both women finished in the same place - outside of the Top 12, looking in.
David Hernandez - David was a gymnast who won 10 medals in the Grand Canyon Olympics, so he was considered a 'man's man', and boy was he ever that. Unfortunately, that was because he was entertaining men by performing lap dances for them in various articles of clothing (and sometimes completely naked) for Dick's Cabaret. Although David has had a number of gigs since Idol and has an album release set for 2009, the public disclosure may have been one of the reasons why the voting audience decided to strip him from the competition.
Joanna Pacitti - Finally, we have Joanna, who was loved by 19 Entertainment. You had a contract with A&M Records? No problem. You had a contract by Geffen? No problem. You forget the words to almost every song you sing during Hollywood week? No problem. You get caught by the Star in pictures with members of 19 Entertainment (the people who run American Idol) and call 2 of them your best friends? Problem. That appeared conflict of interest has caused Pacitti to be dropped by Idol.
So yes, American Idol does have a Golden Road. Just remember that sometimes some of that sheen on the road has been caused by people tinkling on it.
Frenchie Davis - Frenchie was considered a heavy favorite to win American Idol 2. Unfortunately, she was both heavy, and a favorite - of people who liked to see pictures of her modelling plus-sized model gear both in lingerie and topless. Despite a huge groundswell of support for Frenchie, she gets booted, but she still gets a big turn-out when she played the heavies in various musicals.
Corey Clark - Corey is the first person to be DQ'd while in the Top 12. According to producers, Corey never disclosed a prior arrest in October of 2002. According to Corey, he got booted because he got into backstage fights with the producers and was doing the horizontal macarena with Paula Abdul. He was arrested in 2007 with posession of a controlled substance, so I'm more likely to believe the people who haven't been altering their perception of reality.
William Hung - William is actually known for singing...if you consider what he did to 'She Bangs' actually singing. He got a petition of 100,000 people to let him back on the show during season 3 - which he did, albeit as a special. What makes this really scary is that Hung's debut album sold over 250,000 copies in the first month and has been made a millionaire on that album alone. His total albums sold puts him in the Top 20 of all albums sold for all American Idol contestants.
Mario Vazquez - Mario was deemed the favorite to win American Idol 4 and easily coasted into the Top 12...until he mysteriously withdrew from the finals before they even began. According to Vazquez, he wanted to have control over his music and not be stuck in a contract with 19 records. But in 2007, a news article came out that he was indeed stuck - in the men's bathroom, allegedly playing with his little microphone and trying to grab the microphone of Magdaleno Olmos, a former assistant production accountant with FreemantleMedia, who threw a lawsuit at both Vazquez and anyone involved with American Idol. No word on how the lawsuit went, but Vazquez's career went right down the men's room urinal, culminating with him being dropped by Arista in early 2008.
Derrell and Terrell Brittenum - In American Idol lore, there have been brothers who made the semi-finals, but on Season 5, Derrell and Terrell were threatening to be the first set to make the Final 12...until they were charged with forgery and theft after allegedly using a false identity to purchase a car. They both got booted from the show and disappeared from the spotlight for a few years. Then in 2008, they both revealed that they reauditioned for the show and qualified for the Top 24, which would be a great story of redemption...if it were true. But alas, that was also fraud, as they were too old to audition for Season 7. Whatever they are trying to sell now, it is probably more successful than their album, which hasn't made a blip on the radar.
Antonella Barba - When you're auditioning for American Idol, season 6 with your best friend, and you have a falling out with said best friend during the audition process, it's probably not a good idea to leave salacious pictures of yourself in possession of people who can upload them on the internet. But that's what happened, as pics of Antonella (which included her in a teddy and another with her in a wet t-shirt in the fountain of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.) started popping up. There were even pictures bordering on porn with women that looked like her floating around the net being attributed to her, but those weren't really her. Despite the pics, the producers let her stay on the show, which unleashed a firestorm of people who thought that the aforementioned Frenchie Davis shouldn't have gotten booted and even cried out racism. However, at the end of the day, both women finished in the same place - outside of the Top 12, looking in.
David Hernandez - David was a gymnast who won 10 medals in the Grand Canyon Olympics, so he was considered a 'man's man', and boy was he ever that. Unfortunately, that was because he was entertaining men by performing lap dances for them in various articles of clothing (and sometimes completely naked) for Dick's Cabaret. Although David has had a number of gigs since Idol and has an album release set for 2009, the public disclosure may have been one of the reasons why the voting audience decided to strip him from the competition.
Joanna Pacitti - Finally, we have Joanna, who was loved by 19 Entertainment. You had a contract with A&M Records? No problem. You had a contract by Geffen? No problem. You forget the words to almost every song you sing during Hollywood week? No problem. You get caught by the Star in pictures with members of 19 Entertainment (the people who run American Idol) and call 2 of them your best friends? Problem. That appeared conflict of interest has caused Pacitti to be dropped by Idol.
So yes, American Idol does have a Golden Road. Just remember that sometimes some of that sheen on the road has been caused by people tinkling on it.
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Ouch..that's gotta hurt!! Does seem *very* fishy, though..
Glad to have you back Haterade.. :)
Did anyone else see Nathaniel's face last night when Tatiana came back into the holding room after being accepted into the Top 36. We watched it about 5 times..its up there with Seacrest giving the blind guy a high-five!
GREAT to have you back, Haterade, looking forward to your reviews.
Welcome back Haterade! Looking forward to the weekly wrapups!