Reality Ravings

Ryan Seacrest bounded on stage obviously recovered from the Gary Busey incident at the oscars , and ready for the final ten guys to sing '70's songs. Ryan thankfully did not succumb to wearing '70's gear, and stuck to his usual preppy look.

Tonight's interviews with the contestants theme was 'something we don't know about them'. Clearly they should have been asked 'tell us something interesting about themselves'. As most of the reveals were pretty dull.

First up was the spunky Australian Michael John who told us he was a bit of a jock and played tennis. Yawn, can we please bring back the ice addict auditioner I am sure she could do better then that.

He sang a Fleetwood Mac song "You Can Go Your Own Way" (in Australia they are not introducing the song so some of my song titles may be wrong.

Brave choice singing a song whose vocals are mainly a) a females, and b) a female that are as original as Stevie Nicks. However if he had pulled it off the judges would have been gushing.

But he didn't. The vocals were shaky and pitchy, not helped by him bouncing around on stage.

Clearly the judges want him to get through as they were very kind for a very average performance.

Randy Jackson said " Kind of liked it", "Nice tone", "Good singer"
Paula Abdul said "Great way to start the show"
Simon Cowell said "Ok", "By far your weakest performance", "Weak choice of song".

Next was the US equivalent of Australian Idol contestant Dan England, Jason Castro, though I have to admit Jason is cuter and not so grungy.

His thing we did not know about him was that he did not like doing interviews.
He sang "I just want to be your everything". Again he played his guitar. I thought he was ok, and he is definitely appealing, however the judges want to see him without his guitar as the keep on reminding us "this is a singing competition"

Randy said "Vocals weren't that great"
Simon said "Song horrible", "Too schmaltzy", "Of all the songs of the decade". Now I thought that comment was a bit disingenuous of Simon as this year they only get 50 songs to choose from each week. Reality TV has a good article on it and highlights that Garret Haley one of the eliminated last week, did not even get to choose his own song.

Luke Mennard who was totally forgettable last week was next. He revealed he was in a accapella group that has performed all over the world. We even got a sneak peak of him mangling Bohemian Rhapsody in one of these performances.

He was not going to leave those Queen songs alone and tonight he sang "Killer Queen". Now Freddie Mercury is one of the great rock singers and this guy even though he was heaps better then last week (because the song is so good), still managed to sound squawky.

Now this guy is very good looking and you think he would be sexy and smoulder, but he just leaves me cold.

Randy said " Pretty good", "Couple of pitch problems"
Simon echoed my thoughts when he said "The guy who sang that song had charisma and personality and you don't".

Robbie Carrico - the boy band turned rocker was next to perform a Foreigner number "Hot Blooded". I got very excited with his "tell us something we don't know about you" I thought he might tell us about shagging Britany Spears, but unfortunately he started rabbiting on about drag racing. Yawn.

I tend to agree with the judges is this guy just a faux rocker, as he is still just using all the old boy band moves and microphone techniques. Also is his long hair extensions?

His voice is fine and it is always in key he will continue to get through for awhile but I don't see him taking out the competition.

Randy said "Not sure about the rock", "Not sure the voice is strong enough"
Simon said " Thought vocal off tonight"

Next up is one of my favourites Danny Noriega - please America keep this guy in he just cracks me up.

Firstly Danny congratulations on making Dlisted - Hot Slut of the Day . Now what was he to tell us something we did not know about him? He was unable to tell us he was gay, as we already know that. So he told us about the punk band he was in in Grade 9. He was hilarious "We realised we sucked so ended it".

Please, please, please bring him out for Mardi Gras next year.

He sang a Carpenters song, which was good, but was not great.

Randy said "I am a fan", "Problems in voice", and "Don't over think"
Simon said "Better then last week", "Over concentrating", "You standout in a crowd, you are interesting, and you look good on camera".

Again he made the judges laugh.

David Hernandez revealed he used to do gymnastics when he was young. Again yawn. There have been rumours on a website which say he may have been a go go dancer at a gay bars in Phoniex.

Who cares. He certainly butched it up tonight singing "Papa was a Rolling Stone". It was funky and fabulous. One of the best performances of the night.

Randy said "That was hot"
Paula said "Perfect"
Simon said "Best vocal of the night" "Not a fan when you got through, but now a fan".

Next up was Mr Bland, Jason Yeager whose said he knows how to play three instruments, not that we have seen him play one yet, and on tonight's performance I don't think we will get to see him play them.

He sang a Doobie Brothers number which all the judges panned. He needs to go sing on a cruise ship, and he could also double as a male gentlemen ,you know the ones who get the 70 year old ladies to waltz around the dance floor as he has some moves.

Randy said "Pitchy kind of like karaoke"
Simon said "Last week boring, this week awkward and ordinary"

Jason started blathering on to Ryan Seacrest, and Simon said "He was getting irritated by the length of the speeches. "It is like the Oscars".

Chikeze revealed his name was Nigerian, and is pronounced differently then Chick-Eze. He really kicked it tonight with a song called ?"I Believe", by Danny Hathaway.

So much better then last week. He was funky tonight. He sang and moved well. My only gripe was the boring Ralph Lauren polo t-shirt he was wearing.

Randy said "That was hot, and Chickeze is back"
Simon said "Very clever choice of song" "One million times better then last week."

David Cook the rocker revealed he was a huge word nerd and loved crosswords. Then he tried to prove how intelligent he is by sprouting words greater then three syllables.

He played guitar tonight and he did rock it up with "All Right Now". It was a much stronger performance then last week, and the guitar added some much needed sex appeal.

Randy said " Real rocker for the boys this year" Was this a backhander to Robbie Carrico?
Simon said "Solid, believable", "Don't have a lot of charisma"

David then said "I only have to win over other people"

Simon then rolled is eyes and put him back in his box by saying "I think I know this competiton ...."

Last up was the cute seventeen David Archuleta singing John Lennon's "Imagine." He revealed he had met the season 1 American Idol finalists and sung for them as an 11 year old.

This guy is so much better then Zac Efron, when is the Disney Channel going to sign him?

The song was beautiful, and he has such a modesty about him even when showered in praise. Then again maybe this is the image he wants to portray, but somehow I think it is the real him.

Randy said "One of the best vocals I have ever heard on this show"
Paula was all teary "one of the most moving performances"
Simon said "Risky doing a John Lennon song, but it worked", "Your the one to beat".

Matt Corby could have taken a few lessons in humility from this guy.

It was a much stronger night tonight with the worst vocal performances being Jason Yaeger, Luke Mennard, and Michael Johns. I think it will be the former two to be eliminated.