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Cry? No way! Jason Castro exits “American Idol” laughing
Jason Castro may not have shot the deputy, but with a swift but painful rendition of a Bob Marley classic, he annihilated his hopes of becoming the next “American Idol.”
Now ask him if he cares.
The dreadlocked, easygoing Texan was sent packing from “American Idol” on Wednesday night in what was arguably the most jubilant exit of any contestant ever.
Admitting that his inexperience had gotten the better of him during the previous night’s grueling performances of “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Castro appeared visibly relieved to have the pressure of the competition behind him. Having to perform two songs in one week, he said, was tough to handle.
The 20-year-old college student, who all season long seemed to take the pressure of the show less seriously than his rivals, even said he had appreciated one of the barbs sent his way after he had forgotten some of the words to “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
“Somebody told me that I shot the Tambourine Man yesterday,” he said, laughing. “I thought that was pretty funny.”
Later, host Ryan Seacrest pointed out that Castro appeared to be relieved.
Live on “Idol,” Seacrest brushes “Paulagate” under the rug
Is there something rotten in the state of “Idol”?
Not if you ask host Ryan Seacrest.
The night after the show faced perhaps its biggest controversy so far this season, Seacrest just seemed to brush it all under the rug. Since Tuesday night’s performances episode, the show was tarnished with accusations that Abdul unfairly used pre-written notes to judge a performance by contestant Jason Castro BEFORE he even sang one of the songs she referred to. For a full rundown of the debacle, click here.
While Abdul herself explained the gaffe on Seacrest’s radio show Wednesday morning as confusion and misunderstanding , the incident was barely hinted at on Wednesday’s “Idol” broadcast.
The moment was left out of the recap of the previous night’s show, and Seacrest took a brief moment to defend Abdul by only cryptically referring to the “gossip” he had read on the Internet.
“For the record, the rumors, they’re not true,” Seacrest said. “She’s part of our family, and we love her.”
So what “rumors” was Seacrest referring to? That Abdul might have based her notes on the rehearsal instead of the live show? Or that someone wrote her notes for her? Or, even more sinister, that the producers vet the judges’ comments to try to sway the competition in a certain direction?
Whats the problem? Simon Cowell has said quite openly that he often doesnt even hear much of the live performance, and judges based on the dress rehearsal. Plus, if that was the “rumor”, who cares if we “love her” or not? The rumor was probably that she is going to be kicked off the show for her pattern of incompetency….
UPDATE!- “American Idol”: What was UP with Paula?
In seven seasons of “American Idol,” Paula Abdul has definitely had her moments.
But her gaffe on Tuesday night’s episode was either the “Kookiest Paula Moment Ever” or a sign of the judges’ apparently not-so-spontaneous evaluations of contestants’ performances.
Abdul on Wednesday sought to explain the blunder as a simple misunderstanding. “We all just screwed up everything,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
It was Neil Diamond night, and after each of the show’s five remaining contestants sang their first of two songs for the evening, the judges were asked to comment on their performances.
Randy Jackson quickly rattled off his impressions, and then Abdul launched into a lengthy analysis of contestant Jason Castro’s two performances. Yes, that’s right. Abdul remembered TWO performances. When Castro, and all of the other contestants, had only performed ONCE.
“Oh my God, I thought you sang twice,” a flustered Abdul said when Jackson gently pointed out that Castro had only performed one song so far. She added: “This is hard!”
“You’re seein’ the future baby, you’re seein’ the future!” host Ryan Seacrest said.
I think it’s evident that American Idol is NOT aired completely “LIVE” as advertised. Try recording the show at home and then play it back. There are many changes that are obvious. For example, the recap of the performances at the end of the show include parts of the performances that were never actually seen. In many cases the microphone position, gestures etc. of the performers never actually took place while singing, however, they mysteriously are included at the end during the recap. I think Paula was simply having “dejavu” because she had already seen it. The show is recorded at least twice. It is NEVER aired LIVE as they claim. However, I will still watch it, because I still enjoy the performances.
Kind Cowell kills Carly in another “Idol” shocker
That’s it. The next time Simon Cowell actually likes a performance on “American Idol,” he should just keep it to himself. No one tunes in to see him say anything nice, anyway.
Carly Smithson’s elimination on Wednesday night’s show simply defied any rational explanation, even in the cruel and unforgiving world of reality TV. For the first time in weeks, the Irish diva on Tuesday night received uniform praise from all three judges for her passionate performance of “Superstar” from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Composer Andew Lloyd Webber was the show’s guest mentor.
The praise from Cowell was enough to make Smithson, who last week accused Cowell of being too hard on her, whip out a blue T-shirt that read “Simon Loves Me (This Week).”
But besides Smithson’s standout performance, rival contestants Brooke White and Jason Castro were both panned up and down both on the show and in the blogosphere, including right here on Fan Fare. One of them surely appeared headed for the axe on Wednesday.
During Wednesday’s episode, Cowell took a stab at explaining the results, saying White had shown herself to be human by stumbling over the beginning of her performance of “You Must Love Me,” from the film “Evita.”
And Castro, he said, was “charming” even though his rendition of “Memory,” from the musical “Cats,” was an agreed upon disaster. Admittedly, Castro saying “I didn’t know a cat was singing it” in his pre-taped interview before his performance is likely to go down as one of the highlights of this season.
every body that is in the top eight will have a good to top music career after the show ends. it has now become a popularity show not a talet show. i wish well to all the finalist. people stop being mean. we all wish we were thier
“Idol’s” Mariah night: was it a burger bun or a luau?
It must have been conceived as some sort of cruel joke.
For seven seasons now, the judges of “American Idol” have repeatedly told contestants to steer clear of singing songs by Mariah Carey, ostensibly because the singing competition’s up-and-coming star wannabes could never hope to measure up to one of the great voices of pop music.
So, let’s just say it was a little strange to find Carey as the guest judge on Tuesday night’s show. Because you know what that means: the contestants were allowed to perform an old Mariah song, a new Mariah song, or any other Mariah song of their choosing.
As judge Simon Cowell predicted at the beginning of the show, the night indeed turned out to be lackluster one for the girls because of the unavoidable comparisons between them and the great Carey herself. That didn’t stop Cowell from delivering his usual barbs, however.
“It was a bit like ordering a hamburger and only getting the bun,” Cowell told Brooke White after her performance of “Hero.” “In other words the vital ingredient, the bit in the middle, was missing.”
Ouch.
The other girls — Syesha Mercado, Kristy Lee Cook, and Carly Smithson — emerged without being compared to fast food, but they didn’t get any overwhelming love from the judges.
Jason C did a great job , w/ no more experince that he has, give him some time time to get used to singing and he will be fine. I was present at one of his first performances at Lake Pointe Church in front of about 5000 people. I knew then that he would be successful.