Anoop Desai May Already Be in the Wild Card Round
There seems to be a bit of anticipation brewing already for the American Idol Wild Card Round, which will be broadcast in three weeks. A new addition to the No. 1 rated show in the U. S., the Wild Card Round will also showcase 12 contestants attempting to make it into the Final 12. Three American Idol Wild Card Round: Choosing the Last 3 of the Final 12
Date: February 18, 2009
Hollywood, CA
United States of America from the Wild Card Round will be chosen and continue onward with the nine Final 12 contenders that will have already been chosen by American Idol viewers (and voters) in previous Rounds 1, 2, and 3.
In the first three rounds of elimination, the 12 contestants vie against each other for three slots in the Final 12. The top male vote receiver, the top female vote receiver, and the next highest total vote receiver, as chosen by the viewing audience, continues into the Final 12. Round 1 ended Wednesday night with Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, and Danny Gokey being named to the Top 3.
Ryan Seacrest announced that, of the 24 million votes cast, Anoop Desai and Michael Sarver were separated by a mere 20,000 votes. According to the new rules, the next highest vote receiver gets an automatic berth in the American Idol Wild Card Round. It looks like it just might be the smooth-voiced Desai.
But the Wild Card Round will be structured a bit differently from the other three elimination rounds as well. After the three contenders from Rounds 1 – 3 get their automatic berths, nine others must be chosen to complete the Wild Card 12 that will literally be given a second chance to become the next American Idol. The judges will do the choosing for those nine slots. American Idol viewers will just have to sit back and enjoy the show as the 12 nearly-made-its get one more chance, because the judges will choose finalists 10, 11, and 12 as well.
Although it is not actually known why the rule changes were made, the official line from American Idol is that the producers of the show wanted to pick up the pace a bit and give the judges a little extra control going into the Final 12. Not a bad idea, but there is something intrinsically unfair to the democratic way of doing things when one chooses a top male and a top female each week in the first three rounds, then the next highest vote receiver gets through. What is unfair is that, given the overall poor performances of the females in Round 1, what if the Top 3 vote receivers were all male? What if Alexis Grace, being the top female vote receiver, came in fourth, fifth, sixth, or even seventh? Not that Alexis Grace did not deserve the slot (she most certainly did), but since the show is supposedly democratic, why instill this battle-of-the-sexes hurdle in the mix? Since the Wild Card Round was created to provide re-entry for those that might should have otherwise made it (Anoop Desai, Ricky Braddy), would then that not be the platform to reintroduce Alexis Grace if that were the case?
American Idol Top 36 Round 2 airs Tuesday, February 24.
So, do we have any idea if the other 9 wild card performers will be chosen from the Top 36 only, or if those in the Top 50 still have a chance?
I think they will be chosen from the top 36 only. 3 of them will be the 4th place finishers and the other 6 chosen at random by the judges.
I’ve heard a rumor from a pretty good source that the contestants in the Wild Card round have to sing the song that got them eliminated. I personally think this is a terrible idea. How good of a show will it be when we have to sit through some of the same crappy performances as before? Why not up the ante and make them choose another song or make them change significantly the song they’ve already done?
I think that the division of male/female should continue even after top 12. The reason for this is that the US audience is extremely sexist and always, on most of reality shows, guys have an obvious advantage over girls, and it’s most often not based on performance at all.
That was absolutely obvious during the last SYTYCD, where Katee was by 1000 miles a better dancer than all the guys put together, and her ONLY disadvantage was that she was a female.
In the US guys vote only for other guys, and for some strange reason most girls vote for guys too. And this is happening regardless of the actual performance. Girls simply have no chance in those “being a cool dude” competitions, and most of those shows with average voting age around 15, being a “cool dude” is the key to succeed.
This is the US public, so to keep it fair for the equally hard working girls, the male/female division should be kept as much and as long as possible.
When i read this article, I understood that there would be 12 contestants on the wildcard…
After the three contenders from Rounds 1 – 3 [NEXT HIGHEST VOTE GETTERS - Group1 - Anoop, Group2 - ?, Group3 - ?] get their automatic berths, nine others must be chosen to complete the Wild Card 12 that will literally be given a second chance to become the next American Idol. The judges will do the choosing for those nine slots [JUDGES CHOOSE 9 MORE CONTESTANTS].”
so wouldn’t there be 12?
i’m still trying to understand how they are going fit 12 (or 9) performances in a 1 hour show…
Seems logical. I was never a fan of the gender affirmative action on this show, but the top 12 has to be balanced, because it’d get boring otherwise.
“In the US guys vote only for other guys”
That’s funny, cuz I seem to recall voting for Alexis Grace for over an hour straight last week, with my father voting for Tatiana (don’t ask). Must have been my imagination
Anoop should have been in the top 3 of his group – PERIOD. He’s definitely the best male vocalist there, along with Adam. America got it totally wrong. I absolutely hate this format.
I’m hoping that Matt Giraud gets in to the Top 12 via the wildcard system. I was so impressed with his performance of “Georgia on My Mind”….and I know that it impressed the judges as well.
I really do not like this new format. One bad performance on the first round of voting and YOU ARE PRETTY MUCH OUT–regardless of how you did in the preliminaries.
These contestants are probably a bundle of nerves and they need a little time to get familiar with the concept of Live TV…
So if the producers want to really improve the show….Put it back to a Top 24…..then let the contestants have a week of Live TV (judges only….no voting)…just so the contestants can get acclimated to Live TV….then start things up for real on the following week when the nation actually starts voting.
That way we have a chance to see them twice before we start voting for them……Then eliminate them 4 per week (as before) until they work it down to the Top 12.
About the final 3 voted on in the Wild Card week:
Are there still going to be 6 males, 6 females, in the Top 12?
In other words….
So far, there are 4 males & 2 females in the top 12.
Round 3: pretend 1 male & 2 females for the sake of things (scenario 1) — thus, 5 males & 4 females
Wild card: Does this mean the top highest male vote getter (makes 6), and the TOP 2 HIGHEST FEMALE VOTE GETTERS (makes 6) are in? Or is it still….top male, top female, next highest vote-getter M or F. That would mean 7 males and 5 females…. Oreven up to 9 males & 3 females (do the math),,,or are they still very strict on the 6M/6F thing??
Bring back Norman Gentle, Nick Mitchell. Totally entertaining and he does have a great voice.
bibbyjo’s idea sucks. your saying just let the judges vote? fuck up outta here.
The Top 12 performs the week after Group 3. That means this Tuesday, Group 3 sings. On Wednesday, 3 contestants are brought to the Top 12. And on Thursday, the judges pick 3 people to move on. That’s what the commercial showed.
And fuck whoever thinks othawaz.
Well, I disagree,
Norman Gentle was terrible.
Even though I hate her with all my being, I hope Titiana gets in.. She doesn’t have a bad voice but she makes me want to rip my eye balls out.
So during the wild cards, the judges are going to vote, we aren’t?
bobbyjack….please re-read my post.
All I said was give them one week of performing on Live TV without having to face the vote of the audience. (Judges would comment…that’s all)
Then after getting acclimated to Live TV one time (without having to worry about the nation’s vote…nerves settled, etc)….then the real thing could start taking place the following week with the nation actually doing the voting.
BETTER SAID…..THEY GET A ONE-TIME TEST RUN ON LIVE TV WITHOUT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT BEING VOTED OFF.
That also gives us a chance to see them more than once before WE start weeding them out.
MY IDEA IS GREAT!!!
Cripe, I thought they were only going to pick 3 wildcards tonight to fill out the Top 12. This sucks.
lol…You mean you don’t want another hour of Idol this week?