While American Idol has been one of the most popular singing competitions in the past two decades, the show hasn’t been free of controversies. As many other reality TV shows, many viewers question if everything they see on the screen is actually true and that includes the auditions.
Over the years, especially back in the first seasons, viewers got to see some cringe-worthy auditions with terrible singers or rude contestants. While many people would like to have some five minutes of fame (no matter what), it is still suspicious for many viewers.
On the other hand, all reality TV shows have some secrets. After all, producers have to ensure that the show is entertaining, whether through heartfelt stories or some drama between contestants or judges. So, here’s what we know about what’s real and what is not on American Idol.
What’s the truth about American Idol tryouts?
There have been several contestants that have talked about the audition process on American Idol. Per ScreenRant, one of them was Colby Dunn (@colbykatreisinger), who auditioned on Season 16 and according to her account of the situation on TikTok, the auditions were scripted. She claimed that Katy Perry “didn’t learn her lines,” and that the show tried to make her a bad guy. She has also talked about her experience on Reddit under her username (kobykatcolby).
On the other hand, another singer that auditioned for the show, Michael Barnum, wrote about his experience on Medium. In his post, he says that in order to be able to audition for the judges, you first have to go through a process with “many hoops,” including a “500 questionnaire psych evaluation.”
He also explained that there are “invite-only” auditions, in which producers basically locate talent and invite them to go to the show. According to his account, he went “through a total of 3 auditions before I went to New Orleans to audition for the judges and shoot the show.” The first audition is in front of a casting member, and then it’s the turn of the executive producers.
In his post, he also explained how producers tapped “emotional” moments: “Those moments where the contestants run out screaming their heads off that they got the Golden Ticket don’t happen right after their audition. It’s all staged and filmed hours later. Yeah, totally authentic. All throughout the day they were filming little segments with the contestants in the waiting room.”
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Meanwhile, according to ScreenRant, some personal stories aren’t even fact-checked, and a contestant named Matt Farmer was notably exposed for fabricating details about his military background.
