Games - American Idol

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	Games - American Idol

The fifth season of American Idol
began on January 17, 2006 and will end on May 24, 2006. Returning this season to judge are Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. Returning to host is Ryan Seacrest.

Auditions

Auditions were held in seven cities in the summer and early fall of 2005 in the following order:

Chicago, Illinois
Denver, Colorado
Greensboro, North Carolina
San Francisco, California
Las Vegas, Nevada
Austin, Texas (later stages of auditions were held in San Francisco because of Hurricane Katrina and the number of evacuees in Texas)
Boston, Massachusetts

Unlike Season Four, no guest judges were involved during the auditions.

Eliminated Contestants

Early auditions

Holly Corrente worked at a rehabilitation facility. Auditioned in Boston and eliminated there.
Rhonetta Johnson had a diva attitude and potty mouth. Made negative comments, mostly about and directed to Paula Abdul
after being rejected by the judges. Eliminated in Greensboro auditions.
Chonna Clepper auditioned in Greensboro dressed in almost nothing. Before entering the audition room, she was rude to Ryan Seacrest.

Hollywood Round One

The first round of Hollywood consisted of two days of solo performances of one of 12 pre-selected songs, to a piano and background vocal accompaniment, with each singer singing on one day and touring Los Angeles on the other day.

Of the 175 hopefuls who made it to Hollywood, 99 were selected to move on to the next round. Among those cut from at this time were:

Kenneth "Chase" Bush auditioned in Greensboro with a Whitney Houston song
Jeffrey "Ryan" Baysden auditioned in Greensboro. He was told by Simon, "finally, a Ryan with talent!"
Steven David, Jr. auditioned in his Air National Guard uniform in Greensboro, danced with Paula, and turned out to be married.
David Hoover aka "Crazy Dave", sent through by Randy and Paula in Chicago. He is the first "bad" singer ever to be sent on to Hollywood.
Ronnie "R.J." Norman was profiled as the "Cocky Guy" in Austin. He cried when he was eliminated in Hollywood.
Jayne Santayana auditioned in San Francisco, sang "Sweet Love" by Anita Baker.
Joshua and Jarrett Simmons are the younger set of male twins that auditioned together in Chicago.
Zachary Smits was a 17-year-old, auditioned in Chicago.
Jordan Southerland auditioned dressed as a firefighter in Greensboro.
Heather Ward was the African American woman who surprised the judges by singing Gretchen Wilson's country anthem "Redneck Woman" in Las Vegas.
Kendra Winston was the mother of three children, grew up in 42 different foster care situations, auditioned in Greensboro.

Hollywood Rounds Two and Three

The remaining 99 hopefuls competed in Round Two, which was three- or four-person groups singing one of six or so pre-selected songs. Cuts were made (of individuals, not whole groups) after this round.

Approximately 60 contestants went on to Round Three, which was a solo a capella performance of one of 95 possible songs. After this, cuts were made by segregating performers into different rooms, with everyone in a given room either moving on or being cut.

Across both rounds, 55 were cut, including:

Meredith Bandes
Leah Barrettsmith, one of the two sisters who auditioned together in Chicago and were profiled as "small town" girls.
Matthew Buckstein
Rochelle-Elaine Dye came to her Denver audition with several friends and family who had her named spelled out in t-shirts. She said she was about to be evicted.
Sarah Enouen
Michael Evans
Hannah Freeman
Gina Glocksen was profiled as a dental assistant and the lead singer in an all-girl band, auditioned in Chicago.
Anthony Hansen
Rickey Hayes was a music major, auditioned in Austin
Jason Horn, Funeral director, auditioned in Austin with "You Raise Me Up".
Ashley Jackson, "fit model", sang with her mouth closed, auditioned in Austin.
Josh Jordan
Garet Layne Johnson, profiled as the "Wyoming Cowboy," auditioned in Denver, was advised to get voice lessons before going to Hollywood. He was featured as part of a Brokeback Mountain parody called "Brokenote Mountain".
Mecca Madison was the 18-year-old high-school senior and belly-dancer. Auditioned in Las Vegas.
Celeste Scalone
Tyra Juliette Schwartz came from New York and was dumped by her boyfriend shortly before auditioning in Greensboro. She was a former contestant on Making the Band.
Jennifer Sieminski
Marcy Smith
Halicia Thompson sang the theme from A Different World and kissed Simon. She auditioned in Greensboro.
Nicole Turk
Tatiana Ward auditoned in Boston. Simon compared her to his pet poodle, and complained that her singing was too "old fashioned." Randy and Paula let her through.
Lauren Weckerly
Shawna White was 16 years old, wore pigtails that inspired yodeling from the judges, auditioned in San Francisco.
John Williams sang a Michael Jackson song and did a dance in San Francisco, Simon wasn't impressed with his "routine", but Randy and Paula put him through.
Megan Ziegler was first seen in Hollywood, where she had a bad case of laryngitis, but managed to sustain her voice.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for American Idol (Season 5) ]